Men, masculinity and mainstream politics: our latest report lays bare the breadth of disillusionment across the British public, and identifies a key group of men who are increasingly disillusioned.
Do people feel they have the right to protest? And on issues like Israel-Palestine, how does this perception affect the debate?
Parks, pride and place: what role do greenspaces play in British politics?
Britons and the Budget: On Monday at 2pm, we’ll be sharing our latest research from polling and focus groups ahead of the Budget.
New Research on the War in Gaza: In this webinar, we’ll be discussing our new report After Choosing Sides. Join us at 3pm on Monday.
Who are Britain’s Disillusioned Men?
For International Men’s Day, we released “Out of Reach?” The report identified a key group of men who are increasingly disillusioned and feel both alienated from politics and society at large.
Three overlapping factors underpin this disillusionment: distrust in politicians and institutions, doom about the future and their prospects, and disruption, a desire to break from the status quo.
Using this index of disillusionment, our research suggests 13 percent of men in Britain today can be thought of as deeply disillusioned - with a further 60 per cent partially. While there has been much, and necessary, focus on alienation among young men, we find that middle-aged men are actually the most likely to be disillusioned. This group of Disillusioned Men are less likely than average to live in London, to have gone to university, and more likely to be struggling financially. They’re considerably more likely to say they often feel stressed, lonely and ‘like a failure’.
Our research found this disillusionment is driven by a belief that the social contract is broken, that hard work does in fact not pay off. Seven in ten Disillusioned Men feel that no matter how hard you work, you will struggle to have a comfortable life in Britain. This drops to three in ten among non-disillusioned men.
This sense came across strongly in our focus groups. Jack, a delivery driver from Liverpool, told us that he wanted to provide for his family, but that this felt increasingly out of reach. This was shared by Sam, a twenty-year-old starting his law degree in Birmingham.
“I’d like to do nice things with [my son] and I just think those things were coming few and far between.. So that's having an impact on my quality of life really as a father. I want to be able to provide for my son, take him to do nice things and I just feel like maybe I just don't have as many opportunities to do that. It's more work or no, we can't have that now and I just think it is definitely impacting on your life a little bit.” Jack, Liverpool
“I think a big part of the issue for men nowadays is there is always going to be a stigma of men need to be providers for the house, but it's becoming more and more difficult with the cost of living crisis to provide the job markets really, really difficult lately to get a job getting on the property ladder as well is just, to me it's just, I'm looking at it and I'm thinking I'm not going to be on there until I'm like 35, you know what I mean? I'm 20 now, there's just no chance I ever earn enough money with the cost of living to then get onto to the property ladder as well.” Sam
This pessimism toward their future is reinforced by the feeling that, even with the right leadership, the problems facing Britain are insurmountable, a view held by one third of this disillusioned group. For Disillusioned Men, the current government does not inspire any hope for positive change: 92 per cent expect the current government will not improve the lives of people like them. For comparison, this falls to 60 percent among men who are not disillusioned.
The sense of doom experienced by many men shapes their views on a range of societal issues. While economic woes are driving disillusionment, a cohort of young men attribute their struggles to gender equality, and 42 per cent of Disillusioned Men think politicians care more about women’s issues than men’s issues. Additionally, they are more likely than average to say that multiculturalism threatens British identity.
So how do we speak to disillusioned men? Messengers seen as ‘straight talkers’ are most appreciated by this group - they favour people who say what they believe, even if people don’t like it. From a list of celebrities they would pick as Prime Minister, disillusioned men were more likely than other men to select Jeremy Clarkson and Danny Dyer.
Leaders seen as strong and tough connect with Disillusioned Men. They are more likely than other men to consider strength and willingness to overhaul the system to get things done as important attributes in a leader. Displays of strength - which many interpret as following through on your promises - may provide reassurance that those in power are actually in control and can make positive change in the country.
We’re grateful to Ali Strathern MP, co-chair of Labour’s Men and Boys Group, for his support throughout this project. You can read his great piece in the New Statesman here.
We were delighted to hear the Prime Minister reference our polling at the Downing Street reception for International Men’s Day. You can see the clip here (watch till the end!)
After a busy summer of protest, a clear pattern has emerged in our polling: people are far more likely to believe that protests aligned with their own views are being restricted. A third of the public think anti-immigration protests are restricted, but this rises to forty-nine per cent among those who list immigration as a top concern. The same dynamic appears around Reform UK, where a quarter of the public think pro-Reform protests are restricted, compared with forty-one per cent of Reform supporters.
These perceptions are even sharper in the context of the Israel–Palestine conflict. Thirty-one per cent of the public think pro-Israel protests are restricted, rising to fifty-five per cent among people who sympathise with Israel. Likewise, while thirty-two per cent of the public believe pro-Palestine protests are restricted, this climbs to forty-six per cent among those who support Palestine.
Our latest report on the conflict, After Choosing Sides, explores these tensions but also takes a broader overview of how attitudes to the conflict are potentially eroding social cohesion here at home - you can read the full report here:
Looking across our research it’s clear Brits love their parks: when we ask the public what makes them proud of where they live, parks and greenspaces top the list. Yet safety concerns and anti-social behaviour stop people enjoying these spaces. Meanwhile, the majority of Britons do not think that the Labour government will improve their area (74 per cent). This rises to 92 per cent of those intending to vote Reform. So it begs the question: what role could greenspaces have in improving people’s lives and changing how they feel about the country?
Our new research (in partnership with Wates Family Enterprise Trust the TCPA and Green Infrastructure Partnership) set out to answer this question. We found that mental health is the most important benefit Britons get from green spaces, followed by the ability to connect with nature and exercise on green spaces. Many focus group participants spoke of the impact the pandemic has had in making them realise the importance of green spaces in supporting their mental health.
Safety is the main barrier to Britons when it comes to using and accessing green spaces, a quarter of Britons saying safety is the biggest barrier. This is highest among Gen-Z women (31 per cent), and 10 per cent higher than their male counterparts. Focus group participants spoke of their anger about the anti-social behaviour, flytipping and littering they see taking place in their local parks and green spaces.
In this context, there’s widespread support across politics for investing in our greenspaces: almost three-quarters of Britons support the government funding the development of new green spaces or improving existing green spaces. Across all voter groups, including Reform, this has a majority support.
After the launch of the government’s Pride in Place Programme, we ran a ‘max diff’ experiment to see how Britons want this funding used. Improving green spaces ranked as the second most effective use of the money, just behind public realm improvements. We then took a wider view, conducting further max-diff tests which showed the political potential of investment: restoring the quality of parks and green spaces could give a bigger boost to public confidence in the government’s ability to improve people’s day to day lives, even something as salient as cutting legal migration levels.
With the proportion of Britons expecting the Labour Government to improve their lives halving since the election, an increasingly disillusioned electorate is looking for visible change. Improving green spaces offers low-hanging fruit: meaningful, noticeable changes that people value, and that can be delivered with minimal resources.
We'll be presenting new polling and analysis of public expectations ahead of a Budget widely expected to raise taxes, and the implications of a potential breach of the Labour's manifesto promises. We will also discuss Britons’ fiscal priorities and preferences, and the implications of public reaction for the Chancellor, the Prime Minister, and all political parties.
Over the last few years, More in Common has been monitoring UK public attitudes to the war in Gaza, and exploring how the conflict is influencing division and polarisation in Britain. In this briefing, More in Common’s researchers will present the findings from their upcoming 2025 deep-dive into attitudes on the war, how these attitudes have changed over time, and how leaders and community groups in Britain can respond. Drawing on focus groups and polling across the British public, the report will explore not just what people think about the conflict, but what is driving these attitudes, and how the conflict is changing how Britons think about each other.
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