Public attitudes 2024

Since 2007, the Electoral Commission has been monitoring public attitudes about aspects of elections and democracy in the UK. Our latest study was conducted online in February 2024 with a representative sample of just under 6,000 respondents across the UK.

A majority of people (73%) remained confident that elections were well-run in the UK. This figure was consistent with last year's findings and was slightly higher than the long-term average.

80% of people were satisfied with the process of voting at elections, virtually unchanged from last year (79%). This represented an increase compared to the levels observed in the 2010s. 

Younger people are least confident that elections were well run, followed by the unemployed.  

Respondents from some disadvantaged groups (those who rent from housing associations, those from DE social grade, those ‘limited a lot’ by disability and those with low educational attainment) were also more likely to have lower confidence that elections are well run.

A similar proportion of people (38%) are satisfied with the way the democracy worked in the UK compared to those who are dissatisfied (36%). While this marks a positive change from last year, there is still significant room for further improvement.

People who were ‘limited a lot’ by disability were the least satisfied with UK democracy, followed by people who were unemployed. Respondents who are not homeowners (either renting from housing association/private landlord or live at home) were also among those least satisfied.

Misinformation/disinformation (70%) ranks as the public’s second largest concern around elections, behind only bias in the media (74%).

• Almost everyone (87%) thought that misinformation/ disinformation would affect how people vote in an upcoming UK parliamentary general election.
• There had been a significant increase in the proportion of people who reported encountering a deepfake in the last year: 43% had seen a deepfake photo, 42% had seen a video, and 30% had heard an audio clip. Last year, the overall proportion was 20% (when the question was not split into different formats).
• 77% of respondents who followed news on social media) said that they often encounter things that appear to be misinformation presented as news related to politics.

There has been a decline in the proportion of people who believe they can judge the reliability of online content. In 2022, 59% agreed they could judge online content's truthfulness, compared to 53% in 2024. The disparity is increasingly more pronounced among those with lower educational attainment.

76% of people believed that not enough has been done to tackle mis/disinformation around elections, while 5% think sufficient action was being taken.

• Over half of people (55%) think that the Electoral Commission should be partly responsible for tackling election mis/disinformation, ranking fifth among seven suggested organizations.

When asked to select a single organization primarily responsible, the Commission ranked third behind Ofcom and the UK Government.

Bullying behaviours are more likely to be deemed acceptable if directed at a politician rather than a member of the public.

Younger people were more likely to find bullying behaviours acceptable, regardless of the target being a member of the public or a politician. The disparity in attitudes was also greater among young people.

Perceptions of financial transparency have experienced a long-term decline, though they have mostly levelled out in the last year.

In Scotland, there had been an increase in the proportion of people who disagreed that the spending and funding of political parties/candidates/other campaigning organizations at elections was open and transparent. Since 2018, they had shifted from having the least proportion disagreeing to the most.

• Two-thirds (65%) supported the requirement for photo ID to vote, with just under half strongly supporting the measure (46%).
• Last year, opinions on voter ID were more mixed, with 42% believing it would improve elections and 31% thinking it would worsen them.
• There has been a decline in the proportion of people who found voting easy (77% in 2024, down from 82% in 2022 and 2023). Those who oppose the ID requirement found it more difficult to vote (73%), those in support remained unchanged (82%).
• While there had been a small improvement (87%) in the proportion saying they feel voting in a polling station is safe from fraud or abuse in the last year, it remained consistent with the long-term average.
• 3% of the population did not have photo ID eligible for voting. Those who were unemployed, rent from a local authority or housing association, are limited a lot by disability, or are DE social grade were least likely to have photo ID.