Wax and Wane

Trust in the government did not ‘plummet’.

An article in The Observer claimed a poll showed “public trust plummets”. The Telegraph published an article about the lock-down. This article asserted the public was “increasingly supportive of a staggered exit”.

Both claims derive from the same poll by Opinium. Neither claim is accurate.

The Observer

Opinium conducted an internet panel poll between 21–23rd April 2020. The company sampled 2,005 UK adults, on behalf of The Observer.

Toby Helm, political editor of The Observer, wrote an article with the headline:

Public trust plummets in Britain’s handling of pandemic, new poll reveals

The headline refers to Opinium’s regular question:

To what extent do you have confidence in the Government’s ability to handle the Coronavirus situation as it continues to develop?

Respondents can give one of five answers, including ‘neutral’. If people clicked ‘completely confident’ or ‘somewhat confident’, those answers were ‘confident’. The ‘not confident’ answers were ‘not very confident’ and ‘not at all confident’.

Opinium’s series does not show a plummet in public confidence:

These graphs are in the online article. (Image: The Observer)