The language of priorities: what leader characteristics and policy ideas are most salient for UK voters?�

A conjoint experiment, June 2024

Objectives

​

• When voters are forced to choose, which policy ideas and characteristics do they tend to prioritise? �
• To what extent are left-right issues salient vs cultural dividing lines?
• What personality trait people looking for in a PM at the moment?�
• This is useful because it highlights potential dividing lines for parties in this and future elections, as well as helping to understand voter motivations.

Summary of results: characteristics

​

• At present (June 2024), the three most ‘vote moving’ characteristics a politician can have are:�
• Honesty
• Being from a working class background
• ‘Having a clear vision/plan’

​

• Looking more at specific voter groups, among Labour voters and especially ‘Red Wall’ Labour voters, incorruptibility is another very salient strand: having no outside financial issues, behaving in a way which respects rules; not accepting donations from big business.

Summary of results: policy positions

​

• At present (June 2024), the three most ‘vote moving’ policy positions are:�
• Increased spending on the NHS and education
• Increasing taxation on the richest
• Renationalising railways

​

• We can infer from this that if voters believe there is a difference between one party and another on these issues, it will influence their vote choice.�
• A caveat here is that many things drive people’s vote and ‘position issues’ (perceived differences on policy) is only one of them (there is also party loyalty, which party is best positioned to win in a local area, which leader is the best, etc). Nevertheless, the results speak to the salience of bread and butter economics/public services over culture wars in the 2024 election. �
• There is some evidence a ‘Rejoin the EU’ party has potential to peel off Labour voters if this issue becomes salient in politics.

Methodology

Methodological approach

​

• A conjoint experiment of two parts: policy and personality.�
• Respondents were first asked to choose between Party A and Party B, with each party represented by three policies randomly chosen from a long-list (see Annex A). In the analysis phase, we can see which policy idea most drove voter choice. �
• The % seen in results is the number of times Party A or B were chosen when a given policy appeared in their platform�
• We repeated this experiment for personality characteristics of leaders/Prime Ministers.�
• The % seen in results is the number of times Politician A or B were chosen when a given characteristic appeared in their platform.�
• By removing party brands, we can get a purer read on policy and personality priorities. �
• The purpose of this approach is to force trade-offs among voters. If they can’t have a party or leader which perfectly aligns with their own views on everything, which issues do they prioritise? �
• Conducted via YouGov in June 2024.

Methodological approach: example of what respondents saw

​

​

Methodological approach: example of what respondents saw

​

​

Results: �Most salient leader characteristics

​

​

01

​

Results:�Most salient policy ideas

02

Annex A: full language on policy ideas tested

Annex B: full language on characteristics tested