Ben Clements
Ben Clements is Associate Professor in Politics, in the School of History, Politics and International Relations. University of Leicester. His research interests include British public opinion towards foreign and defence policy in the post-war period. He has published widely on this topic, including British Public Opinion on Foreign and Defence Policy: 1945-2017 (Routledge, 2019)
Britain’s possession of nuclear weapons on the post-war period has been a feature of opinion polling over the decades, both in the Cold War and afterwards, including the ongoing debate over Trident replacement. The issue’s presence in polling of course reflects the importance of nuclear weapons to Britain’s defence posture and wider foreign policy over time, but also its prominence in domestic political debate and related developments in the international environment.
The AMSR contains some valuable sources on public opinion in towards nuclear weapons, often involving questions asking about support for or opposition to Britain’s possession of them.
An NOP poll in July 1963 shows the public in favour of Britain retaining its nuclear weapons. Though a majority of backers of all three parties favoured keeping the nuclear deterrent, Labour supporters were about twice as likely as Conservative supporters to want to get rid of it.
Question: ‘Mr. Wilson has said a Labour Government would run down the British independent nuclear deterrent. Do you think we should or should not keep our independent deterrent?’
Source: NOP Political Bulletin July 1963
https://amsr.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/NOP_Reports/id/1390/rec/1
Polling on nuclear weapons has also focused on its relative importance as an issue for the public at general elections. An example can be seen below, taken from NOP polling undertaken in 1963-4, in advance of the October 1964 election. Britain’s nuclear deterrent was not included in the 1963 polls, but on four occasions in 1964 we can see that both nuclear weapons, as well as defence and foreign affairs, were generally ranked lower than some issues of domestic policy – the cost of living, housing, education, unemployment and pensions.
Question: ‘Which of these issues do you think will be particularly important to you at the coming General Election?’ [Show card]
Source: NOP Political Bulletin October 1964
https://amsr.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/NOP_Reports/id/1523/rec/7
The relative importance of the nuclear deterrent and the other issues for different social groups in Britain, from the October 1964 poll, are reported here:
https://amsr.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/NOP_Reports/id/1765/rec/3
The AMSR also contains polling on Britain’s nuclear weapons in the 1980s, a time of considerable party-political controversy over defence and foreign policy, as well shifting conditions in the Cold War environment.
This issue of the NOP Political, Social, Economic Review, from December 1981, provides the results from a detailed set of questions concerning nuclear weapons:
https://amsr.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/NOP_Reports/id/793/rec/1
This MORI opinion poll on defence issues, undertaken in January 1983, includes questions about nuclear weapons (see questions 6-13):
https://amsr.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/Mori-reports/id/7/rec/5
More recent polling on the debate over the renewal of Trident is also available from the AMSR, with a helpful compilation of results from different polls in the period 2005-2010 available here:
https://amsr.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p21050coll1/id/518/rec/1
MORI opinion polls reported in the monthly Political Monitors include results from a long-running question pair of questions asking about the most important issues facing Britain. For example, this Political Monitor from June 2006 shows time-series data from 1974 onwards, allowing a comparison of the relative importance of ‘nuclear weapons/disarmament’ with range of other issues. Shifts over time in the importance of ‘nuclear weapons/disarmament’ for the public can be identified and related to developments in domestic politics and the international environment.
https://amsr.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/Mori-reports/id/357/rec/6
These are just some of the valuable sources that the AMSR holds on public opinion towards nuclear weapons. Further examples can be located by searching the individual collections, in particular: MORI British Public Opinion, MORI Reports, Opinion Poll Reports and NOP Reports.