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Dear friend,

We hope this finds you well, and looking forward to the long weekend! 

We’ve got lots of new research that we’re excited to share with you this week. In this newsletter:

• After the summit: following Donald Trump’s meeting with Vladimir Putin last Friday - and President Zelenskyy’s visit to Washington - we asked the public for their reaction to the events, and which leaders they trusted to help the peace process.
  
  
• What are the most important issues facing the country? We take a closer look at what our Seven Segments of Britain consider to be the biggest issues.
  
  
• Britons and etiquette. Our new polling explores where Britons draw the line on a range of social activities, from skipping a round in the pub, to playing music out loud on a train.

After the summit

As the British public watches the back-and-forth between the US and Russian presidents, our polling suggests that they have little trust in Donald Trump to deliver a peace deal - and very few believe that Putin even wants peace.

We knew ahead of the Anchorage summit that the British public were not expecting much: only a quarter said they trusted the president to deliver a deal that was favourable to Ukraine. But it seems that the red-carpet welcome for Putin has eroded their confidence further: 82 per cent of Britons now say they have little or no trust in Trump to broker a favourable deal in Ukraine, an increase of 8-points since just last week.

When asked who got the upper hand in the summit, Britons are more than twice as likely to say Putin (32 per cent) rather than Trump (14 per cent). Even those who voted for Reform in 2024 - who are generally more favourable than other Britons toward the US President, 33 per cent believe that Putin got the upper hand, compared to 21 per cent who think that Trump did.

And in the midst of mixed messages around security guarantees, there is some scepticism over whether Trump is actually helping to bring about peace. Just over a quarter (27 per cent) say he is helping the process, while slightly more (30 per cent) think he is making it harder. Meanwhile they tend to think Keir Starmer is making no difference to either helping or hindering the peace process at the moment. 

But while the public are split on the US President, they are clear in their views on Putin and Zelenskyy: they are six times more likely to say that Zelenskyy, rather than Putin, is helping the peace process. And two-thirds (67 per cent) think that Putin is actively obstructing the peace process. More broadly, our  polling for the Sunday Times last month found that Zelenskyy is the most popular foreign leader, while fewer than one in ten Britons have a positive view of Putin.

On the wider picture, the British public continues to see Ukraine’s defence as a priority. More than seven in ten (72 per cent) believe that Ukraine’s sovereignty matters to the UK - a view that spans across age and politics - including a clear majority of Reform UK supporters. While the public might feel worried and anxious about the unpredictable peace process, their support for Ukraine remains unwavering, and they are keen to see the UK play a role in facilitating peace.

You can read HuffPost's writeup of the research here.

What are the biggest issues facing the country?

Every week, we ask Britons what they think are the biggest issues facing the country. It allows us to track how the public’s priorities are shifting over time, but also lets us dig into how the salience of different topics - migration, the cost of living, health or crime - vary across groups. In particular, our Seven Segments provide a great lens through which to explore the issues that matter most to Britons - and why.

At first glance, this shows the priorities that Britons have in common: the cost of living ranks in the top three issues for every single segment, and the NHS ranks in their top five. But further down the list differences emerge.

The first is migration. Over the past few weeks, the salience of migration and asylum has reached new highs, coinciding with high-profile stories about channel crossings and hotels housing asylum seekers.

While Britons now consider these to be among the most pressing issues facing the country - with more than half selecting either channel crossings or levels of immigration - the importance attached to these issues varies across the public. 

Among right-leaning, socially-conservative segments (Rooted Patriots, Traditional Conservatives and Dissenting Disruptors), around half or more believe that both migration and channel crossings are top issues facing the country. Yet among left-leaning Progressive Activists, only 7 per cent see levels of immigration as a top issue, and only 4 per cent say the same about channel crossings.

On other issues a salience gap also emerges. Climate change is a top issue for more socially liberal segments, selected by more than three in ten Progressive Activists, and 20 per cent of Incrementalist Left. Additionally, the ‘Blue Wall’ Established Liberals pick it as the third most important issue, behind the NHS and cost of living. In contrast, only 7 per cent of Traditional Conservatives or Dissenting Disruptors believe climate change is a top issue.

Britons and etiquette

Do you think it’s acceptable to play music without headphones on the train? If your answer is ‘no’, you’re in good company: 93 per cent of the British public say it is not okay to play music out loud on public transport.

We showed Britons eleven social activities - from not picking up dog mess to not offering someone a cup of tea - and asked whether they thought they were acceptable. Across every single option, a majority of Brits said they were not okay.

They were most adamant about not picking up dog poo, playing music on the train or spitting in public - with more than nine in ten saying these things are not okay. But two-thirds also believe that it is unacceptable to skip a round of drinks in the pub, or to talk loudly in the street! And 54 per cent of Britons believe it is unacceptable to not offer someone a cup of tea when they visit your house.

We found that across all of these activities, older Britons tended to be more strict than younger people. However there were a series of them where the age gap was particularly wide.

For example, three in five Gen Z Britons say it’s okay to skip a round of drinks in the pub. Older Britons are far less forgiving: 84 per cent of Baby Boomers and 88 per cent of those older than 75 say it’s not okay to skip a round.

Similarly, older Britons are far less forgiving when it comes to making noise in public: Gen Z are split 50-50 on whether it’s socially acceptable to talk loudly in the street; those over the age of 75 overwhelmingly (86 per cent) say it is not. While there is greater consensus about talking loudly on public transport (83 per cent say this is wrong), younger Britons are a bit more relaxed, with nearly three in ten saying it’s okay.

And finally: 100% of the oldest age groups of Britons think it’s not okay to play music on the train. While Britons of different ages are split on other social rules, there is one that every age group agrees on: a vast majority of every age group believes that it is unacceptable to play music on a train. But among those above the age of 75, this rises to 100 per cent. It’s not often in polling that you get to make such sweeping statements about an entire age group but, in this case, the proportion of those aged 76+ who believe that it’s okay to play music out loud on a train is so small, it rounds down to zero!

MIC in the Media

Yesterday, I appeared on BBC News at Six to discuss public views on the asylum hotel accommodation policy. Later in the evening, our polling on Britons’ top issues featured on Newsnight. You can find my clip on BBC at 6  here (about five mins in!).

That’s all for this week! Thanks for reading and - as always - please do feel free to share your thoughts.

All the best,
Luke Tryl

Executive Director