– “Mum’s the word”: 40% say family members influence their voting decision
– Nearly one in ten (9%) put social media as their preferred source of information
– 41% of Labour voters see social media as an influencer compared to just 17% of Tories
Three-quarters (72%) of British adults ranked television as the biggest influence on their vote ahead of the General Election on June 8th, according to London-based international communications agency, The PR Office*.
Following Theresa May’s resistance to appear on Television debates, it is widely discussed whether Corbyn’s appearances in the lead up to the election will have had a similar affect to that of Nick Clegg’s debating success in 2010. The firm’s research highlighted that following television, newspapers (57%) and family members (40%) were most likely to influence an individual’s voting decision. When it came to first choices, colleagues (1%) and Radio (4%) were ranked as the least popular sources to impact voting decision.
The research also found that (12%) of British adults say family members are most likely to influence their voting decision, more than double those that said friends (5%). Seeking the opinion of family members ranked highest amongst those who intend to vote SNP (22%) compared to an average of (10%) for all other political parties.
Shimon Cohen, Chairman, The PR Office, said: “Television clearly remains the most influential medium on the general public. With social media seen as progressively more left leaning, it is unsurprising that it has more impact on Labour voters than Tories, but what is surprising is how few people rank it in their top three.
“Perhaps in the era of ‘fake news’, the public is trusting images and video content more than the written word – reflected by the fact that less than one in five (18%) ranked newspapers as their most influential source relating to their voting decision. With television ranking so high (41%), it will be interesting to see how the Prime Minister’s decision not to take part in Television debates affects the overall result.”