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Regaining trust in the social market

Analysis of unique comparative polling conducted by YouGov for Policy Network

Fieldwork was undertaken 18-22 March 2011. Total sample size for the online survey was 1063 British, 1086 US, 1010 Swedish and

1184 German adults.

Full poll available at www.policy-network.net

Roger LiddleChair of Policy Network

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A social democratic opportunity squandered?

• From private “credit crunch” to public debts and deficits crisis

• Loss of economic competence

• No radical agenda to reform the financial services sector?

• The Third Way benign marriage of economic efficiency and social justice in question

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Voters still pro-market…

• Voters value competition in the market because it keeps prices down and provides consumers with a wide choice of goods and services

• Competition is cited by voters as the primary advantage of a market economy in the UK (50%), the US (45%), Sweden (52%), while in Germany it is also very important to voters (45%)

• The wide choice of goods and services that the market economy provides is highly valued by 44% of voters in the UK, US and Sweden, and 53% in Germany

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… but people’s faith in the market to deliver social goods – principally jobs and shared wealth – is at a low ebb

• Its the harsh impact on vulnerable individuals, cited by 41% in Sweden, 29% in the UK and Germany, and 20% in the US as a major disadvantage of the market economy

• Low “positive effects” on jobs and opportunities - while in the US 35% highlight the contribution the market makes to employment prospects, under a quarter emphasise this as an advantage in Sweden (24%) and the UK (21%), and only 15% in Germany

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Pro-business attitudes in question…

• The dominance and profit-seeking practices of large (chiefly multinational) corporations cause apprehension:

– Common perception among centre-left voters, including a notable 30-point divergence between Democrat and Republican voters in the US

– Large corporations squeezing out small firms is seen in Germany, the UK, US and Sweden and by voters of all parties as a principal disadvantage of the market economy

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… but are sceptical of the state’s capacity to stand up to vested interests

• People’s estimation of government’s ability to stand up to vested interests range from a mere 15% in the US, 16% in the UK, 21% in Germany to a more respectable but still worrying 27% in Sweden, when asked to compare the different strengths of state action

• Voters worry that the state is hijacked by vested interests is a matter of utmost concern to voters, especially in Germany (48%), the US (47%) and the UK (38%), but Swedes are less pessimistic (17%).

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Regaining trust in the social market

• Voters do not regard the state as powerless in the face of increasingly globalised markets – even in the US only 8% express this view

• Belief in the “transformative capacity” of the state holds true in Germany (55%), the UK (53%) and the US and Sweden (both 44%)

• Is building a new politics of the public interest the basis of a new social democratic narrative?