Media and aid campaigns
Action Aid opinion poll on public attitudes to aid: summary
How does the UK public view increases to international aid?
Authors:
; ActionAid
Publisher:
ActionAid International, 2007
This report summaries the findings of an Action Aid poll on public attitudes toward development aid in the United Kingdom.
Main findings of the poll include:
- public support for aid is high and more robust than might be assumed
- the public are concerned about aid quality
- aid sceptics could be won over by improvements to quality
- more public discussion of aid would be welcomed
Interesting findings include:
- the mean average estimate for the proportion of government spending accounted for by aid was 18.55% when the actual figure is only 1.3%
- almost three quarters – 74% - think aid should increase even if every penny can't be accounted for
- a majority – 54% - ‘tended to’ or ‘strongly disagreed’ that the UK government pays enough attention to ensuring that its aid is used effectively
- a majority (57%) of these aid sceptics said they would support the increases ‘if the aid provided by the UK could be fully accounted for and guaranteed to help the poorest’
Overall the polls shows strong support for the UK government’s commitment to increasing its aid budget.
