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Dear friend,

Happy Halloween! It’s Ed Hodgson here, filling in for Luke.

Hope you’ve had a lovely week, and have some spooky plans for the weekend.

In this newsletter: 

• What do the public want to see from our universities? Sharing the findings of our latest report with UCL Policy Lab, Shared Institutions.

• Is the future of the monarchy back on the table? Our latest polling looks at public opinion on Andrew and broader attitudes toward the Royal Family.

• Trick, treat or “don’t know”? In our spookiest polling of the year, we asked the public about their phobias, nightmares and favourite Halloween costumes. Can you guess which voters are most scared of the dark?

• Our next climate webinar: On Monday 10 November, we’re hosting a webinar ahead of COP30. We’ll be sharing our latest research on climate attitudes and what the public are looking for at this climate summit.

What do the public want to see from our universities?

The Government’s recent policy announcements on higher education, along with high-profile debates in the US over the past year, have brought renewed attention to the future of our university sector. But how closely do these debates reflect the public’s concerns and priorities?

Our new report with the UCL Policy Lab, Shared Institutions, takes a deep dive into public opinion on the UK’s university system. At a headline level, we found that Britons feel positively about the impact of universities on the country and on their local areas. But divides in public opinion on certain issues suggest the sector cannot afford to take public opinion for granted.

When asked about the most important roles universities play, people highlight their wider contributions to society: training professionals and researching new medicines rise to the top, ahead of the direct benefits for students themselves.

But awareness of this research role is limited. Fewer than half of non-graduates describe themselves as “fully aware” of the research that universities do, while a fifth say they are “not at all” aware. Making impactful research more visible might be necessary to address scepticism among parts of the public.

“They can look more long-term, they can take more risks and that because it is just research and so it could lead to a breakthrough or it could lead to nothing, but they're the ones with licenced and it's not going to make or break the profits that they can give to their shareholders or whatever it is or whether they can get re-elected. It is not changing that. It's just let's go. Let's see where this leads us.” 

Joseph, asset manager, Essex

“I think now that you've said it, just thinking about it, sometimes when you're reading articles, even if it's just a Facebook post, sometimes you do quite often see 'University of Cambridge have discovered this'. It's quite a common thing that I do read. But yeah, I didn't initially think of that when we started speaking about universities” 

Hannah, account manager, Chippenham 

Cracks emerging?

Beneath overall positivity lies splits in public opinion. One of these is a clear graduate gap: Non-graduates are nearly twice as likely as graduates to believe that universities only benefit those who attend them, more likely to believe they are rigged to serve the rich, and are far less likely to believe universities have become more accessible to working-class students.

Political divides are also beginning to emerge. While Britain is not as polarised as some other countries, Reform voters stand out in their scepticism toward the higher education sector.

Compared to 59 per cent of the public as a whole, less than half (45 per cent) of Reform voters say universities benefit the country as a whole, while 36 per cent say they only benefit the students who attend them, and 9 per cent say they do not benefit anyone.

Yet while campus free speech and culture war debates often garner headlines, the public are much more likely to worry about the falling value of a degree. Nearly half (47 per cent) believe too many low-quality degrees are offered, and many feel the value of a degree has declined.

In focus groups, graduates who regret their own degrees often describe a sense that peers and colleagues have managed to succeed without university, and without the associated debt.

“There probably was more value to a degree back then, but I definitely think it's diminished a lot more now unless you're doing something like law, medicine, accountancy, that leads to a natural career.” 
Imran, sales director, Reading

“In hindsight, if I could go back, I probably would not go to university because reason being, because like I said, I'm working with people who have not been to university the differences, but we're on same salaries, but the difference is I've got a hundred grand debt and they don't.”
Wasif, pharmaceutical manager, Manchester

In this context, many Britons believe the focus should shift from expanding attendance to strengthening vocational skills. Seven in ten (71 per cent) would prefer a focus on vocational education to investing in expanding university attendance. Nearly two-thirds of Britons support the government’s decision to drop the 50 per cent university attendance target, a viewpoint that spans across politics, age and educational background. 

At a time when trust in many institutions is under strain, the public still talk about our universities with a sense of positivity, and often some real pride. However, this comes with high expectations and big responsibilities for the sector. In the report, we look into what universities could do in order to meet Britons’ expectations and prevent these splits in public opinion from widening.

You can read the full report through the link below:

Is the future of the monarchy back on the table?

Following the removal of the former prince Andrew Windsor’s titles, our polling from earlier this week found that three in five Britons (61 per cent) supported this decision. The saga has re-opened a debate about the future of the monarchy: though for most people, this doesn’t come so far as to translate into outright support for abolition.

Almost half of Britons (47 per cent) say they oppose abolishing the monarchy, compared to 29 per cent who would support it. Older generations remain the staunchest defenders, with nearly seven in ten over-65s against abolition. Younger generations are more likely to be ambivalent: just over half of Brits under the age of 25 say they neither support nor oppose abolition.

Reform and Conservative voters are the most likely to want to keep the monarchy: 65 per cent of Reform voters and 66 per cent of Conservatives are opposed to abolition. By contrast, Greens are the only group where support for abolition outweighs opposition. Labour voters lean against abolition, but by a narrower margin of 45 to 35 per cent.

What makes the Reform figures striking is their divergence on Andrew. Reform voters are among the most supportive of stripping Andrew of his titles (68 per cent in favour, second only to Green voters at 69 per cent). Yet they are also among the staunchest defenders of the monarchy itself.

This distinction reflects a broader theme we see with anti-system parties across left and right: both Green and Reform voters are highly likely to believe that Britain’s system is “rigged to protect the rich and influential” (80 per cent of Greens, 73 per cent of Reform voters). Even if these two voter groups disagree on the monarchy in general, it’s unsurprising that they’d share a desire to hold Andrew to account.

You can read POLITICO’s great writeup of the polling here.

Trick, Treat or ‘don’t know’?

Getting into the festive mood, we posed some halloween questions to the public in our most recent poll. The results revealed some frightening insights. 

Labour's recurring nightmare 

When asked how often they have nightmares, Labour supporters took the lead: 17 per cent say they have nightmares at least once a week.

Reform UK supporters seem to sleep more peacefully, with less than 1 in 10 said to experience nightmares once a week and over 6 in 10 saying less than yearly. 

Voters in the dark?
We next asked the public if they are scared of the dark, and found that Labour supporters are once again the most fearful: 30 percent say that they are at least a bit scared of the dark. This is far lower among those who currently support Reform UK, of whom less than one in five say that they are at least “a bit” afraid. 

If the electorate were limited to voters that are not scared of the dark, it would give Reform a landslide win, with 35 per cent of the vote, and Labour on just 19 percent. On the other hand, Labour (just) takes the lead among voters fearful of the dark, one percentage point ahead of Reform, 28 to 27 percent.  

If you’re dressing up as a witch this evening or weekend, good choice - it's the favourite Halloween costume amongst the British public. This is followed by vampires (31 percent), then ghosts (31 percent).

Favourite halloween costumes are a divisive issue by age. For young Britons, vampires are a firm favourite, 43 percent aged 18-24 selected this as the best costume (the Twilight effect, maybe?). For older Britons (75 +), ghosts are the greatest crowd pleaser, with 39 percent choosing this as their favourite. 

More in Common’s COP30 webinar

We’d love to invite you to our webinar to mark the beginning of COP30. We’ll look at how climate attitudes have shifted since last year’s COP conference, the challenges of maintaining public support for climate action in an unpredictable international situation, and what Britons want to see from the UK on the global stage.

The webinar will be hosted at 1:30PM on Monday 10 November. Please sign up through the link below, and do share with any colleagues who might be interested:

Thanks for reading, and have a lovely weekend,

Ed