Hearts & Minds: Public pessimism, the gift that keeps on giving for editors and comms

Yesterday saw the publication of a new survey. ‘Sharp rise in concern about inflation as Britons increasingly think state of economy is poor - pessimism about the cost of living is on the rise, with most people in the UK expecting both inflation and their taxes to increase in the next year’. 

For news editors, the poll is a staple default. Their task is to produce exclusivity. But stories may break down at the last minute for all manner of reasons. One banker is the exclusive poll.

Commissioned well ahead of time, it can be expensive to obtain compared to other news items. But the polling company may do a deal in return for the publicity they’re receiving. They require 2,000-plus adult responses over a geographical spread for a national survey to pass the industry credibility standard. Tell them what you’re interested in, what you want to know, and they will do the rest. In a few days, they will produce their findings. If all else fails you have a fallback.

You want it to work, they want it to work. The trick is in choice of subject, phrasing of the questions and interpretation of the answers.

This latest news story, based on a poll, was presented, typically, as a shock. But people are inclined to expect the worst; the media knows that good news does not sell and fuels that sentiment; asking about their personal finances is always a safe bet, they rarely admit to feeling better off; the pollsters duly produced a downbeat outcome.

It pays as well, to dig down. What this survey found was that more people are worried about the cost of living rising “in the country as a whole” than they are about rising costs for themselves.

Similarly, just under half (48%) say Sir Keir Starmer's government is doing a “bad job” at handling the cost of living. That seems awful. But it compares favourably with the 55% that said the same about Rishi Sunak's government a year ago.

As for the fear of tax rises, that goes completely against Starmer’s pledge of no tax hikes for working people during his tenure. Fair enough, they’re allowed not to believe him. But what exactly are these taxes that are likely to increase? They’re not specified. It’s just a vague feeling, then, no more. But on a quiet day for news, it makes for a good headline.

Chris Blackhurst is one of the UK’s foremost business journalists. He was previously Editor of The Independent and City Editor of the Evening Standard.