Scottish social attitudes: attitudes to government and political engagement, 2016

Footnotes:

1. ScotCen, 2016: Scottish Social Attitudes 2015: Attitudes to Government, the National Health Service, the Economy and Standard of Living.
http://natcen.ac.uk/media/1123186/ssa-15-attitudes-to-government-nhs-economy-and-standard-of-living.pdf

2. All material relating to this survey are available from the SSA 2016 website: http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Research/by-topic/public-services-and-gvt/SocialAttitudesinScotland/SocialAttitudesReports/SSA2016

3. UK Statistics Authority: https://www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/

4. In 1999, the question was asked prospectively: 'How much would you trust a Scottish Parliament to work in Scotland's best interests?'

5. A dotted line indicates a gap in the time series.

6. Further statistically significant subgroups with varying trust in the Scottish Government were: Educational qualifications - 70% of those with a degree or equivalent trusted the Scottish Government to work in Scotland's best interests compared to 52% of those with no formal qualifications. Urban-rural areas - 67% of those who lived in urban areas trusted the Scottish Government to work in Scotland's best interests compared to 59% of those who lived in rural areas.

7. Further statistically significant subgroups with varying trust in UK Government were: Political affiliation - 33% of non- SNP supporters trusted the UK Government to work in Scotland's best interests compared 11% of SNP supporters. Religious identity - 31% of those who identified as religious trusted the UK Government to work in Scotland's best interests compared to 21% of those who did not see themselves as religious. Political activities - 33% of those who hadn't engaged in any political activities in the last few years as a means of registering what they personally thought about an issue trusted the UK Government to work in Scotland's best interests compared to 21% of those who participated in at least one political activity. Urban-rural classification -32% of those who lived in rural locations trusted the UK Government to work in Scotland's best interests compared to 24% of those who lived in urban locations.

8. The questions on 'Trust in government to make fair decisions' and 'Trust in government to act in Scotland's best interests' are not directly comparable due to the use of different answer scales.

9. Further statistically significant subgroups with varying trust in the Scottish Government were: Tenure - 49% of private renters trusted the Scottish Government to make fair decisions compared to 38% of home owners. News source - 42% of those who read neither a newspaper or an internet news source 40% of those who read either a newspaper or an internet news source.

10. Further statistically significant subgroups with varying trust in the UK Government were: National identity - Just over a quarter (26%) of those who identified as equally Scottish and British trusted the UK Government to make fair decisions compared to 13% of those who identified as more Scottish than British. Political activities - 22% of those who hadn't engaged in any political activities in the last few years as a means of registering what they personally thought about an issue trusted the UK Government to make fair decisions compared to 16% of those who had engaged in at least one political activity. Interest in politics - 19% of those with any interest in politics trusted the UK Government to make fair decisions compared to 10% of those with 'no interest at all' in politics.

11. Further statistically significant subgroups with varying views on how good the Scottish Government was at listening to people's views before taking decisions were: Urban-rural area - 56% of those who lived in urban areas said the Scottish Government was good at listening compared to 44% of those who lived in rural areas.

12. Further statistically significant subgroups with varying views on how good the UK Government was at listening to people's views before taking decisions were: Age -.16-24 year olds (27%) and over-65 year olds (24%) were more likely to say the UK Government was good at listening compared to 25-39 and 40-64 year olds (both 18%). Political activities - 23% of those who hadn't engaged in any political activities in the last few years as a means of registering what they personally thought about an issue said the UK Government was good at listening compared to 19% of those who had engaged in at least one political activity.

13. For the purposes of this report, we have used the term 'political engagement' to refer to a range of activities respondents were asked about, ranging from ways of registering what they thought about an issue, to how important they felt voting is . These are not the same 'civic engagement' activities reported in the 2015 SSA report 'Scottish Social Attitudes 2015: Attitudes to Government, the National Health Service, the Economy and Standard of Living'.

14. Differences in responses by different groups were examined (see Annex A) and only findings with statistically significant differences between groups are presented in this report.

15. In 2015, 'Joined a political party' was not included on the list. The mean number of activities in 2016 when this activity is excluded was 2.07 and the percentage who had participated in at least one activity was still 66%

16. Differences in responses by different groups were examined (see Annex A) and only findings with statistically significant differences between groups are presented in this report.

17. Differences in responses by different groups were examined (see Annex A) and only findings with statistically significant differences between groups are presented in this report.

18. The lists provided have varied over time. The table with top choices in previous years can be found in Annex B.

19. Differences in responses by different groups were examined (see Annex A) and only findings with statistically significant differences between groups are presented in this report.

20. Differences in responses by different groups were examined (see Annex A) and only findings with statistically significant differences between groups are presented in this report.