Britannia Radio

Britons bottom of list for economic faith in government and banks

• Will Woodward
• The Guardian, Thursday 20 August 2009
• Article history

Britons have less confidence in their government's ability to weather the slump than people in every other major industrial nation except Japan, according to a global poll.

The survey, undertaken by the WIN Network polling companies in 22 countries in June and July, show the British and Japanese governments bottom of the trust league. Britons also have the least confidence in their banks.

But the survey, conducted by ICM in Britain, shows that confidence about the UK economy has increased since January, when the survey was carried out for the first time. And while the UK remains among the gloomiest about the future, it suggests that Britons have coped with the crisis better than others, with lower levels of stress and anxiety.

The "level of trust in the government to manage the financial situation" scores an average of 3.3 out of10 in Britain and Japan. Japan has been bottom in the last two surveys. This is the first time Britain has joined it there.

Respondents in China award their government the highest score – an average of 7.2. India, Brazil, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Russia all give their governments an average score of more than 5.

UK voters once again give their banks the lowest average score, also 3.3. Even voters in Iceland rate their banks higher. In January, Germany's banks were bottom of that table. Britain took its place in March 2009. Britain is third from bottom when voters are asked about their trust in the stability of the stockmarket, behind last-placed Iceland and Spain.

Since March, economic pessimism has diminished in 20 of the 22 countries surveyed, including Britain, where the number of voters saying they expect the economic situation to be worse in the next three months has fallen from 78% in January and 67% in March to 40%. In Britain 11% of respondents expect the economic situation will be better and 44% say it will be the same. Four other countries – Argentina, Germany, Spain and Switzerland – are also on 11%.

Only France and Iceland have a smaller proportion of voters saying the economic situation will be better in three months. Voters in Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Brazil and China are the most optimistic.

On family income, 22% of UK respondents say it will increase, 48% say it will remain the same and 23% say it will decrease. This puts the UK roughly mid-table. But it is one of only four countries to report a rise in the number of people expecting their families to be poorer since March. A third of voters say it is a good time to buy a house in the UK, slightly above the average of 30%.

The pollsters place the UK and Italy in a category of their own: "Pessimistic, high cutbacks, but not psychologically affected". Five countries are in the category of "pessimistic, high cutbacks, and psychologically affected" – France, Japan, Mexico, Argentina and Iceland. The countries said to be dealing best with the economic crisis – "optimistic, low cutbacks and not psychologically affected" – are Brazil, Canada, and India.

• The poll was conducted by WIN Network members among representative samples of the population in each country. In the UK, ICM interviewed online a sample of 2,014 adults aged 18 and over across the country between 24 and 26 July. Interviews were undertaken throughout the country and the results have been weighted to be representative of all adults.