Polls in the UK continue to show widespread support for Western sanctions against Russia. Yet as always with polling, the devil is in the detail.
At the end of October, Ipsos carried out a poll for Sky News asking Britons whether they support Western sanctions against Russia. 70% said they did, which is only 8 points lower than the figure for March. This suggests the vast majority of people are still onboard.
However, Ipsos then asked respondents whether they support sanctions even if the sanctions lead to higher energy prices (which they clearly do). Here, the change since March was much starker:
Now, less than half of respondents say they support sanctions, and almost a third actively oppose them. Compare this to March, when the figures were 73% and 8%, respectively.
It’s unclear what accounts for the disparity between the percentage who support sanctions and the percentage who support them if they lead to higher energy prices – a disparity that barely existed back in March. One possibility is that people still support the general idea, but they’re increasingly concerned about costs.
Digging into the tables, you find that the strongest predictor of support for sanctions is age. Almost 50% of those aged 55–75 support sanctions even if they lead to higher energy prices, compared to just 28% of 16–24 year olds.
In a previous article, I suggested this age divide stems from memories of the Cold War. Older generations still see Russia as ‘enemy number one’, whereas younger generations know it as just another corrupt, authoritarian country.
Another possibility is that older generations feel more economically secure, so are more willing to bear the costs of sanctions. Indeed, respondents who said they were “finding it difficult to manage” were more likely to oppose sanctions than to support them.
From the winter of 2021–22 to the summer of 2022, the “default tariff price cap” (the amount the average household pays for electricity) went up by about £700. It has gone up by another £500 in the fourth quarter of this year, and will rise again next April. This means British consumers haven’t yet felt the full impact of the energy crisis.
By December, they will be paying roughly twice as much for energy as they did the year before – £2,500 rather than £1,277. Support for sanctions may therefore erode further in the coming months.
Of course, when it comes to lifting sanctions, the U.K. is very unlikely to be the first mover; it’s one of the most hawkish countries on Russia and one of the closest allies of the United States.
The place to watch is Germany, which still has within its power the capacity to receive gas through the intact portion of Nord Stream 2. Although the government has publicly ruled this out, pressure may mount as energy bills continue to rise.
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Sanctions are bloody useless and always adversely effect the ordinary people, not those in charge. It is simply half-hearted, lazy aggression, doing nothing but a lot of shouting.
Pathetic.
They are the economic equivalent of sending men out to battle as cannon fodder.
The people ordering the “attack” aren’t going to suffer the financial consequences in the way that ordinary people are.
It’s easy to sacrifice others for your own goals, especially if you are a sociopath as probably most of those calling these shots are.
Indeed.
I know they had an effect on me, wiped out 10K’s worth of investment overnight.
You will,own nothing and be happy
I suppose it’s vaguely encouraging but also somewhat dispiriting. At least 29% of those asked presumably don’t think that sanctions are leading to higher energy prices. You’ve got to be really thick or really not paying attention to have missed that.
I am not convinced that sanctions are leading to higher energy prices. Sanctions provide the excuse for higher energy prices.
So what do you think is leading to higher energy prices?
The Green Nonsense finally becoming impossible to ignore.
Western Europe’s massive underinvestment in real sources of energy over the last thirty years.
These price increases were planned long before Ukraine-Russia and the Scamdemic. But those things are certainly a handy distraction to prevent civil war. For now.
Yes, I’m sure that is a big part of it.
Exactly.
Higher energy prices were baked in when we signed up to Agenda 2030. The purpose of high energy prices is the deliberate impoverishment and resulting decline in the health of the population. Don’t forget depopulation is the game plan.
DS has just posted above an article saying we have signed up for “reparations.” Notwithstanding the fact that Britain’s Industrial Revolution helped to drag the world out of an agrarian, still almost medieval way of life and paved the way for the greatest increase in living standards for billions we now have to pay for our “sins.” The corruption inherent in all this couldn’t be more in our faces. And Chunt is shortly to announce swingeing tax increases. I wonder why?
Tax increases on their own would not have been swallowed. A fake increase in energy prices provides the perfect cover for our impoverishment especially when they can be hidden behind a so-called War.
Fishy didn’t blow billions throughout lockdown in order to help or protect people he blew the cash in order to steal our money. His economic management is so fiscally illiterate and incontinent it makes Gordon Brown’s efforts look almost competent. Fishy is a treasonous bastard, probably not very bright, but bright enough to know that his management of the economy when treasurer was unutterably disastrous even if we are to believe his lies.
It’s never about what they say it’s about.
Yes, a lot of that makes sense, though I would have thought the sanctions certainly don’t help.
Of course Fishy doesn’t care about us – no politician does, or ever has, with few exceptions. I don’t know how bright he is but wouldn’t necessarily equate mismanagement with stupidity, but with arrogance, selfishness and other character flaws.
The MSM tries to make out that the current problems are due to Liz Truss’s brief reign, ignoring that almost all the inflation and almost all the sterling weakness happened under Sunak.
Yes all the people who listen and watch the bbc, and go no further in their attempt to understand the world, have a jaded view of reality.
You can’t apply sanctions to someone you need to do business with to survive. It is stupefying that anyone thought that we have the muscle to get Putin to change direction, while he has the oil, gas, and gold.
I’m not sure they ever thought they would get Putin to change direction.
It’s even more bat shit crazy and delusional than that. They’re trying to destroy the markets for fossil fuels (which they don’t control) and replace it with a market for “renewables” (which they do control).
Worse still, they know perfectly well they can’t get the whole world to play along, at least for now, but at the very least they’re going to carve out the “western” market and control that. If the plebs have to pay more for energy and have less money for other stuff, so be it. Control of energy is the key.
As usual, lazy reporting. Polls, polls polls. Polls are a way of measuring the effectiveness of propaganda.
Im sure that if the “People of the UK/EU” knew and were reminded of what UKR did to its ethnic Russians in 2014-2021, Im sure this conflict may well never of have occurred.
Im sure if we held the German and French Governments to uphold the Minsk agreements, this conflict would never have occurred.
Im sure if “the People of the UK/EU” knew that RUS has reduced its exports of gas by 50% but has increased its revenue regardless, that hardship is being borne by us, not RUS, there would be outrage in early summer.
Im sure if we knew that the Rouble has been the second best performing currency since March, the outrage would have intensified.
Im sure if we were to find out (like we are now with various medications etc…) that UKr is likely to be a historical and current money-siphoning exercise for our collective governments, the outrage would have led to riots on our streets.
The Sanctions have done nothing for the people of the UK/EU other than denude us of wealth and living standards at the expense of OUR Politian’s and elites. This story has only just begun. Sanctions have also clearly helped Russia but Im sure that is just incidental.
‘Outrage leading to riots on the streets’ – if only! But thinking of all the outrages that have been perpetrated on us in the past two years or so, and continue to be perpetrated, it seems to me that widespread apathy and/or ignorance has taken hold. People seem to be cowed, and offering up opinions that don’t marry with current thinking marks you out as a slightly bonkers troublemaker.
People read these “polls” (organised NGO/GO think-tank propaganda feedback-loop) and think their outrage is abnormal, unreasonable and in a minority.
Once we/they realise the truth (as the Eastern European Bloc did in 1987 etc) then watch out Establishment because I wont be able to protect you.
How many people in Russia support the de facto sanctions imposed against those parts of the world opposing its invasion of Ukraine in terms of dramatically reduced / price increased energy, food and other supplies; never mind how many people in Russia oppose the war itself with its massive cost in terms of their loved ones and fellow countrymen’s lives etc?
Oh yes, we’ll never know because they aren’t allowed to have any opinions on these matters (unless they fully align with those of the dictatorial Putin regime).
Let’s concentrate on fixing our own roof, eh?
No-one here is saying Putin’s an angel, but let’s keep our heads screwed on.
Humanity has only one roof, and we are morally obliged to speak out on behalf of the oppressed and suffering wherever they are.
Turning a blind eye doesn’t work in practice in any case, in the case of dictatorial regimes it only encourages their inherently expansionist tendencies which in turn threaten all of our freedom-related, safety and general interests.
Russia and China (etc) are not aiming at peaceful coexistence and cooperation with the liberal democratic world but rather its undermining and eventual overthrow through subversive propagandist, ideological, economic and ultimately (if necessary) military means.
And I am happy to engage in the ideological aspect of this struggle.
Our “liberal democratic world.”
I’d appreciate an explanation.
Indeed – I’d like to move there, wherever it is. The basic freedoms that used to distinguish “the West” from the Soviet Union are all being removed, apart from LGBT rights which is why they keep mentioning that as the point of difference with Russia. Germany in particular is rapidly turning into the DDR, even the associated poverty is on its way.
It is true that in the democratic West (to use a loose term) freedoms have been increasingly curtailed over the past few decades, with both Net Zero and Covid-related restrictions so far representing the nadir of this process.
However we still maintain the basic structures of multi-party democratic voting rights, equality before the law, and freedom of media / speech, all of which provide platforms and opportunities to turnaround the tyrannical trajectory we are currently heading in.
None of these rights and opportunities are available in Russia or China; and not recognising this fundamental difference simply plays into their democracy-destroying hands.
“we still maintain the basic structures of multi-party democratic voting rights,”
We might have the structures but we decidedly DO NOT have a multi party system. Furthermore, the postal voting system is routinely abused up and down the country and having acted as an election agent I can confirm this.
“equality before the law”
This all depends on how corrupt the judge is and the nature of the offence.
“and freedom of media / speech”
Highly questionable. Two police offers were jailed last week for speaking freely in a private whatsapp group.
In other words ‘our liberal, democratic world’ is now simply a fiction.
‘In other words ‘our liberal, democratic world’ is now simply a fiction’
A) Regardless of the accuracy of this assertion what is your opinion about the theory and practice of multi-party liberal democracy? (I personally see it is an imperfect stepping stone towards a morality-based free, egalitarian, non-violent and prosperous world).
B) What is your opinion about the governmental systems in place in Russia and China?
how many people in Russia oppose the war
We have a fair idea of that https://dailysceptic.org/2022/11/01/after-mobilisation-do-russians-still-support-the-war/
Thanks for pointing to this article, I had in fact already seen it.
In any case opinion polls are always of dubious value, those in totalitarian states near worthless for two main reasons:
A) The population is of course fed non-stop one-sided state propaganda and blocked from viewing alternative media / access to actual facts therefore have insufficient knowledge to properly respond to the relevant poll questions
B) Equally importantly fear of the consequences of going against ‘the party line’. For example in Russia it is an offence leading to up to 15 years imprisonment to question any aspect of the Ukrainian ‘Special Military Operation’ (indeed even to call it a war).
Given the state of modern technology anonymity could never be assured, indeed the two method used in the polls cited in Mr Carl’s article – ‘Levada’s survey involves being interviewed in one’s home. Russia Watcher’s involves clicking an ad and then filling out a survey online’ – both allow easy identification by the authorities.
Yes let’s keep these sanctions against Russia going. Aren’t they doing a terrific job at making the lives of the British better? Food up more than 10%, shortage of medicines coming soon, interest rates going up for all you new home owners, everything you buy costing more, price of petrol continues to be 30% higher, increase in price of keeping your home warm, every business passing on their increase in costs to you the consumer. Yep, the sanctions are working their magic. Let’s continue to punish Russia and that bad man Putin
The most important thing about the war in Ukraine is not really the cost of fuel, but the loss of life. Putin is sending his young men to Ukraine to act as cannon fodder and die. The real shame about this is the efficiency of the Russian propaganda machine that convinces the majority of its citizens that what Putin is doing is right. On the other side we have America with its equally strong propaganda ecouraging use of its latest weapons to use Ukraine as a test site for them and generate profits for its weapon companies. At the same time many Ukrainians are dying. Some in the battle and probably many more will die in Russia’s misile attacks and in the longer term by trying to survive a cold winter with insufficient fuel. Its clear that in the interests of both Russia and Ukraine this war must end, but there seems inadequate will from Russia, America, Ukraine and America’s allies in Europe and the UK to help stop this stupidity.
https://sonar21.com/is-the-love-of-money-and-war-is-the-root-of-all-evil/
Re ‘Is the love of money and war is the root of all evil?’
Typos are of course a common occurrence, but I have to assume that allowing such glaring linguistic and grammatical errors to stand in the title of a major and extensive article represents its origins in a foreign language.
Regardless of that ‘the root of all evil’ lies in the belief that it is ever acceptable to deliberately harm another sentient being.