British Election Study: EEC Referendum Survey, 1975

Résumé 0

This data collection is part of a continuing series of surveys of the British electorate, begun by David Butler and Donald Stokes at Nuffield College, Oxford, in 1963, and continued at the University of Essex. In the EEC Referendum Survey, 2,117 British electors responded to a questionnaire that was mailed to all respondents interviewed in the BRITISH ELECTION STUDY, OCTOBER 1974, CROSS-SECTION (ICPSR 7870) and, thus, it constitutes the third wave of a panel, including also the FEBRUARY 1974 CROSS-SECTION (ICPSR 7868). As with other surveys in the series, electors in Northern Ireland and the Scottish Highlands and Islands were excluded from the sampling frame. The three purposes of the survey were (1) to collect information on voting in the referendum about Great Britain's entry into the Common Market held in the spring of 1974, (2) to collect data on respondents' views of the parties and politics in general (as in the earlier panel waves), and (3) to include questions about the referendum as such, i.e., as a constitutional form of decision-making. Respondents answered questions regarding readership of official leaflets on the European Economic Community (EEC), attitudes toward future referendum votes, expected effect of Britain's membership in the EEC (in particular, on prices), their vote in the referendum, strength of opinion about the EEC, difference made to voting decision by new terms negotiated by the government, attitude toward Labour Government's handling of rising prices, party identification, and strength of party support. Respondents were also asked to rate the Conservative, Labour, Liberal, and Scottish National political parties. Finally, respondents were asked to reveal their degree of trust in the parties and their knowledge of orientations of various power groups toward the EEC.