Queen enjoys record support in poll

Tom Clark
guardian.co.uk
May 24, 2012

As the Queen prepares to celebrate her diamond jubilee the royal family is enjoying record popularity, but things could get a good deal more complicated after she leaves the scene, according to a new Guardian/ICM poll.

A mere 22% of respondents say that Britain would be better off without the monarchy, as against an overwhelming majority of 69% who say the country would be worse off. This crushing 47-point royalist margin is the largest chalked up on any of the 12 occasions since 1997 on which ICM has previously asked the identical question.

Pro-royal feeling is spread remarkably equally among the social classes, and across the regions of England and Wales. It is less marked in Scotland – where 36% say the country would be better off without the Windsors – but even there a solid 50% feel the opposite way. Support is stronger among the older, and especially among Conservative voters, in whose ranks it reaches 82%. But across every age group and among Labour and Liberal Democrat supporters alike, the monarchy is enjoying solid support.

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This article was posted: Thursday, May 24, 2012 at 10:00 am

Tags: foreign affairs

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