And how does that compare to the views of political scientists?
Although the idea that politics can be distilled down to a one-dimensional spectrum has been criticised by some, the terms ‘left’, ‘right’ and ‘centre’ remain commonplace in politics, often used as an easy shorthand to describe parties, beliefs and politicians. Indeed, 70% of Britons claim to be familiar with the terms and know what they mean. So how do they understand them when applied to British politics?
Britons are fairly evenly split between the 29% who place themselves on the ‘left’ of the spectrum, the 26% who place themselves on the ‘right’ and the 22% who sit themselves in the ‘centre’. A further 22% say they don’t know where they sit in terms of left and right.
Giving these responses a weighted score, ranging from -100 meaning ‘very left-wing’ to +100 meaning ‘very right-wing’, the British public averages at -3, functionally bang in the middle.
But not all groups of Britons see themselves the same way. Women are a little more left-wing, with an average score of -10, compared to +4 for men. Identifying as right-wing also increases with age, with over 65s scoring +15 and 50-64 year olds averaging +5, compared to averages of -12 among 25-49 year olds and -25 among 18-24 year olds.
Unsurprisingly, there are differences between voters. Green voters on average see themselves as most left-wing, scoring -40, with this balanced by Reform UK voters seeing themselves as most right-wing, with an average of +40. Labour and Conservative voters similarly roughly reflect each other, averaging -31 and +34 respectively, while the Lib Dems score a left-of-centre -22.
Where do Britons place the parties on the spectrum?
When it comes to how voters see the main UK parties, the order is probably not that surprising to those familiar with the terms. The Greens are seen as the most left-wing of the five main parties, with an average score of -55, followed by Labour on -36 and the Lib Dems as the most ‘centrist’ party on -23.
The Conservatives are perceived as somewhat right-wing, scoring +51, while Reform UK are seen as being the furthest out from the centre, with Britons giving them an average score of +69.
Generally speaking, voters who backed left wing parties in 2024 tend to see left wing parties as more centrist than right wing voters do, and vice versa.
The Greens, though, are a bit of an exception, receiving similar scores (-51 to -58) from Conservative, Labour, Lib Dem and Green voters, although Reform UK voters see them as a bit more left-wing (-69).
Labour voters are the only voters whose average score for themselves is further from the centre than their score for their respective party – seeing themselves (-31) as a little more left-wing than they see Labour (-23).
Where do Britons feel political figures sit on the political spectrum?
When it comes to the current party leaders, Britons tend not to see them as particularly different to their parties – with Kemi Badenoch (+51), Nigel Farage (+73) and Ed Davey (-25) all averaging to within five points of their party.
Keir Starmer is a bit further out from Labour, averaging at -28, eight points to the right of his party. When compared to previous Labour leaders, this puts him much closer to former prime minister Tony Blair, who averages -22, than to predecessor Jeremy Corbyn, who averages at a quite left-wing -76.
Blair’s score today represents a noticeable leftward shift since he was in power. In corresponding YouGov polls in 2005 and 2006, he averaged a left-right score of +5.
How do Britons’ views of the parties compare to those of experts?
A test of the public understanding of ‘left’ and ‘right’ is to compare their views with experts. Since 1999, the Chapel Hill Center for European Studies has conducted periodic surveys of political scientists about the positioning of European political parties, with the most recent results published earlier this year.
When comparing the two sets of data, the British public and the experts are broadly agreed on the placements of the Conservatives, Lib Dems and Greens. But when it comes to Labour, political scientists view the party as closer to the centre than the public do (-36 vs -24), while seeing Reform UK as further to the right (+69 vs +85).
The public seeing Labour as more left-wing than political scientists is a trend apparent when comparing previous Chapel Hill expert surveys to YouGov polls conducted around a similar time. Noticeably, however, the latest data shows the public no longer see the Conservatives as more right-wing than experts do.
Nonetheless, the public and experts are agreed in the shifts in the party’s stances over time, concurring, for instance, that Labour was most centrist during the New Labour era, before moving to the left under Ed Miliband and then Jeremy Corbyn, prior to moving a bit to the right under Starmer’s leadership.
Where do you stand on the political spectrum? How do you feel about ‘left’ and ‘right’ in general, and everything else? Have your say, join the YouGov panel, and get paid to share your thoughts. Sign up here.
Photo: Getty
