Last week Forest commissioned a poll on plain packaging. The result was interesting but not unexpected.
Populus interviewed 2,106 members of the British public online. On a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 = not important at all and 10 = very important, they were invited to rate the importance of eight issues facing the remainder of the current parliament.
The outcome was as follows:
As you can see, "introducing plain packaging for cigarettes" was the lowest of any of the variables tested with a net importance rating of just 3.51. The closest variable, "regulating the future of the fracking sector", scored 6.10.
More than half (52%) of the general public awarded "introducing plain packaging for cigarettes" a mean score of 0-3 in terms of importance. Conversely, only one in ten (12%) awarded the issue a score of 7-10.
Both men (3.14) and women (3.00) expressed low net importance ratings on the issue of plain packaging.
Likewise workers in both the public (3.04) and private (3.12) sectors attached little importance to the issue.
Those members of the public who have children awarded it a net importance rating of just 3.88.
The key messages of the poll appear to be:
The general public simply do not view a vote on the introduction of plain packaging as a priority.
Plain packaging legislation is all ill-judged sideshow and a distraction from the real challenges the government faces.
Twice as many members of the public attach importance to the government pursuing legislation in the fields of "controlling the UK's borders and reducing immigration", "tougher counter-terrorism and security laws", stopping human trafficking", "improving access to affordable housing" and "making it easier for employers to take on apprentices" than they do to the plain packaging issue.
You can read the Forest press release here: Poll: plain packaging not a priority says British public.