ITV News Cuts Index

A ComRes/ ITV News poll shows that two thirds of the population fear Government cuts will cause hardship

The latest Cuts Index, conducted by ComRes and to be broadcast on ITV News at Ten, shows nearly two thirds of the population (59%) fear that Government spending cuts will cause moderate (38%) or significant hardship (21%). 58% think that quality of life of locals in their area will suffer as a result of spending cuts.

Meanwhile, only 12% agree that the ‘Big Society’ is a good thing and that they’ll get involved with the initiative, 51% are unsure and 37% disagree. Just one in three (34%) agree that they understand what the phrase actually means.

Finally, half of the population agree (48%) that the Big Society is largely just a gimmick. 44% believe that it’s merely a cover for spending cuts (up from 41% in February), while 18% disagree.

The findings of this installment of the Cuts Index will be broadcast on ITV News at Ten on Monday 4th April and more information will be available here: http://www.itv.com/news .

ComRes interviewed 2011 GB adults online between 30th and 31st March 2011. Data were weighted to be demographically representative of all GB adults.  ComRes is a member of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules.