US politics collage-square

Recent US presidential elections have been extensively covered in the British press. What is interesting, though, is that in the past, British pollsters appear to have been more interested in attitudes to the election process and individual issues than in the candidates themselves.

Way back in 1964, the televised head-to-head debate between US candidates Lyndon B Johnson and Barry Goldwater was widely reported and NOP asked a sample of British voters whether they would like to see a similar debate between the incumbent Conservative PM, Alec Douglas Home, and Labour leader Harold Wilson. Two-thirds of them said “yes”; among Labour voters the figure was as high as 75%. In the election later that year, however, the PM strongly resisted the idea and no such debate took place. In fact, despite popular support, the first televised debate between UK party leaders did not take place until 2010.

For the 1968 presidential election, NOP did ask which candidate the British public would like to see elected. Early that year, Senator Robert Kennedy won 49% of preferences – his nearest rival, Richard Nixon, gained only 15% and the total expressing a preference was 81%. Following Kennedy’s assassination, a re-run of this question found that this latter figure had fallen to just 56%.

In subsequent US elections, British surveys appear to have focused more on attitudes to specific issues (primarily the Cold War and the Middle East but occasionally economic policy) than on the parties or candidates themselves.

Contributed by Nick Tanner
Date posted: 19th January 2025.

 

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