Strike Support Determined by Striking Industry
New polling from YouGov suggests that, although the British public broadly supports strike action, this is often determined by the specific context of strikes. In particular, voters are more inclined to support strikes from healthcare workers and teachers. Nurses have the highest level of net support, at 41%, whilst University workers, on -4%, have the lowest.
Of course, party affiliation is also a major determinant of strike support. Conservative voters oppose strikes for all industries listed, whilst Labour voters universally support them. Unsurprisingly, considering the importance of age in determining party political affiliation, strikes support is also strongly correlated with age. This relationship is less strong with industries that see higher aggregate levels of support - namely healthcare workers.
University workers see the lowest level of support. The fact the relationship of age to support of this group seems relatively weak between the ages of 18 and 49 could be explained by the fact 18-24 year-olds would be disproportionately affected by strike action. Though the small subsample of 18-24 year-olds, 211, should introduce caution into any such conclusions.
As teachers and nurses prepare to walk out towards the end of the month, they may take solace from generally solid public support.
