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4% of the adults we surveyed said they will be changing their car for one with a smaller engine in the next six months, and a further 3% said they will be changing their petrol car to a diesel model, all in order to save money on fuel costs and/or road tax.

2017 GB adults were contact by ICM online Omnibus between 17th-19th February 2012

With 43% of parents surveyed saying that the cost of the fine is outweighed by the saving made by booking an off-peak holiday its perhaps no surprise that 29% of parents are considering to take their children out of school for a holiday this year.

ICM interviewed 2,000 parents with a child of school age (between 4-16 years old) using online Omnibus between the 9th – 22nd February.

While responding to another question, 41 per cent said they believed the monarchy was a unifying force, with 32 per cent of the people replying it made no difference.

ICM online omnibus contacted 2028 people between 13th and 15th April

ICM Research was asked to find out what consumers in GB, France and Germany thoughts were around these issues:
For consumers in GB and France, when choosing a company to provide a product or service, cost is twice as important as data security (66% cost, 27% security), in Germany consumers do pay more attention to a company’s security procedures but cost is still the driving factor (55% cost, security 38%).

Consumers in GB are the most lackadaisical when it comes to checking a companies’ security credentials, with nearly two thirds saying they either only scan the key points or don’t check at all. Our German counterparts are much more thorough, with nearly one third claiming they will read through all of a providers security credentials before giving them their business.

One third of consumers across the three countries don’t believe that companies do enough to look after their personal data, while another third say that they do ‘just’ enough. GB consumers are the most sceptical with just 8% saying that providers are careful enough with our personal data.

If a company were to mislay personal data then people would vote with their feet and look for another provider, 78% would be likely to leave if personal data was leaked. Losing our credit card or bank details are, not surprisingly, the biggest trigger to leaving a provider.

David Cameron’s personal ratings are also down and while he is not exactly on the ropes, he has taken some serious punches. Only 31% say he “understands people like me”, a fall from 42% in August 2010 (and from 34% in Dec 2011). One in three (37%) thinks he’s “good in a crisis”, but with 50% saying he is not, that’s a -13 deficit. Add into that the fact that 50% agreed he was good in a crisis in Dec 11, and four short months have seen a big turnaround for him. A majority (55%) DON’T think he looks after the interests of the many, but then that could be said about most politicians (including Ed Milliband – although he suffers least on this measure).

Ed Milliband receives a ringing endorsement. Only 18% think he’s good in a crisis, which is half the level Cameron got and LOWER than Milliband secured in Dec (21% agreed then). He does fare slightly better than Cameron on understanding people but at 35%, he’s lower than he himself performed in Dec (37% agreed then). These are hardly figures that underpin a positive movement toward Labour. These bad polling numbers are clearly the result of frustration with the Tories, rather than a philosophical move to Labour. This lead may be short lived.

David Cameron & George Osborne do still have clear blue water on economic competence (44%) vs 31% for the Labour team, and indeed they would say that 44% is a pretty good score as it is UP 2-points on March 2012. However, a trend is now well formed: at 13-points the gap over Labour has fallen from 21% to 18% to 17% to 13% now.

Finally, the poll looked at people’s appetite for city-wide referendums. People are almost twice as likely to prefer the council model of local government (61%) to the Mayoral model (34%).

Building on our reputation for providing reliable data, ICM’s health researchers can help your organisation explore patient experience, evaluate the performance of a communications campaign or understand the impact of a social marketing initiative. We are also well placed to assess health policy outcomes, to measure performance improvement and to provide insight on self-reported health and well-being.

ICM prides itself on being innovative and has a wide-range of creative techniques at its disposal, whether it is a large-scale patient satisfaction survey, undertaking on-site interviews at a health event or conducting a series of depth interviews with GPs.

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For more information please visit www.vitarisresearch.com

Conservatives 37% (-2)
Labour 38% (+2)
LD 13% (-2)
Others 13% (+3)

People rarely reflect on day-to-day political matters, but big events like the budget do turn heads, especially when the public perceives it is being hit in the worst possible place: its pocket. If George Osborne were to claim that his budget was revenue neutral, then he would need to communicate that more effectively – the headline voting figures might well be driven by a significant proportion (37%) signalling that they think they’ll be worse off as a result of the measures he introduced on Wednesday. Perhaps surprisingly though it’s not pensioners who are most likely to think so, but those approaching or in middle age, and those on middle to low incomes. The rich, by and large, don’t feel soaked at all.

Only 8% think they will be better off, making a net differential between the two of -29, with 47% believing that their financial situation will not change.

The so-called Granny Tax is unquestionably not popular. A full 63% oppose it’s introduction, rising with age from 50% opposition among the youngest cohort, to 68% among the 35-64 segment. Opposition does tail off slightly though among the pensioner group who it will hit (64%), possibly reflecting an acceptance of disproportional wealth among the so-called Baby Boomer generation. That said, 64% opposition to a policy among a group it will directly affect is pretty sizable.

Interestingly, when more details of the tax are given in a subsequent question, opposition hardens to 72%.

Opposition to other policies introduced by the Chancellor also exists, in spades. Chief amongst them is 88% opposition to the 3p fuel duty level soon to arrive, which makes the decision not to defer it a big political gamble given such high level distaste. Cutting the 50p top rate of tax is opposed by 56%, which is fairly consistent across the social grade spectrum, with even 55% of the high earning ABs opposing it (although most ABs probably fail to reach the £150k top rate themselves).

Spending on welfare payments is set to be cut again, but it looks as though the public feel that these particular cuts might have gone far enough. 48% oppose further cuts, with 40% in support of them.

Elsewhere George Osborne – or at least his Liberal Democrat partners – will find some comfort: policies that attack wealth are positively received, most particularly the increase in stamp duty on £2m+ properties, which gains the approval of 70%. The tapering of child benefit among those earning above £50k is supported by 59%.

Also very popular is the increase in starting thresholds for income tax, with 79% supporting its introduction. Measures to encourage business also go down well, with 60% in support of the 1% cut in corporation tax.

Finally, relaxing Sunday trading laws during the Summer fails to excite the public, with a majority (56%) believing that the status quo is fine; 37% would like the current restrictions scrapped.

ICM Research interviewed a random sample of 1,000 adults aged 18+ by telephone on 22-23rd March 2012. 850 interviews were conducted on landlines, and 150 interviews on mobile phones. Interviews were conducted across the country and the results have been weighted to the profile of all adults. ICM is a member of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules.

However, it is not all good news for the Tories. When asked how they should ensure that the better-off bear a bigger share of the economic burden, more than two thirds (67%) say the government should keep the current 50p top rate of income tax. Meanwhile, a slightly smaller proportion supports the introduction of a tax for people who live in high value homes (62%). At the same time, just under half (47%) support the withdrawal of child benefit from any family where one parent pays a higher rate of tax as a result of earning more than £42,500 per year.

When asked which policies they would most like the chancellor to announce in the budget, 30% mention reducing VAT from 20% to 17.%, while 23% would like a cut in fuel duty, and 19% support increasing personal tax allowances.

The poll also asked the public for their views on Britain’s relationship with the Falklands. A majority of the British public, 61%, think “Britain should protect the Falklands so long as Falkland Islanders want to remain British, no matter what the cost”. Conversely, 32% agree that “the Falklands are a distant outpost of a forgotten era; Britain must recognise this and be ready to negotiate with Argentina over their eventual handover”. Brits seem keen to voice an opinion on the issue, with only 6% saying they ‘don’t know’.

ICM Research interviewed a random sample of 1,000 British adults aged 18+ by telephone between the 16^th and 18^th March 2012. Data has been weighted to match the demographic profile of the British public. ICM is a member of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules.