Understanding public attitudes to aid and development.
UK. Across the EU. Other. Public Attitudes and International Development Co-operation - Books. What can opinion polls tell us about well-being and revolution? Quite a lot, actually. US Public Overestimates Foreign Aid. American Public Vastly Overestimates Amount of U.S.
Foreign Aid November 29, 2010 Questionnaire with Findings, Methodology (PDF) As debates about how to deal with the budget deficit have heated up in recent weeks, a new WorldPublicOpinion.org/Knowledge Networks poll finds that Americans continue to vastly overestimate the amount of the federal budget that is devoted to foreign aid. (Image: US Navy) Asked to estimate how much of the federal budget goes to foreign aid the median estimate is 25 percent.
In fact just 1 percent of the federal budget goes to foreign aid. This set of questions has been asked repeatedly since the Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) first asked them in 1995, and it was subsequently asked by other organizations as well. Thus the most recent number represents an increase of 5 points in the median estimate. The median amount proposed as appropriate has consistently been 10 percent in other polls including the 2004 Chicago Council poll. People aren't against aid, they just want to know that it works. Signs of scepticism amongst the UK public towards the 0.7% spending target is often seen as evidence of waning enthusiasm for aid and development.
Yet political consensus holds sway across Whitehall that development is an endeavour core to Britain’s values and interests. The austerity agenda, it is assumed, means an end to the British public’s compassion towards those worse off than themselves. To test these assumptions, Overseas Development Institute (ODI) and IPPR set out across the country to hold a series of deliberative workshops with UK voters, exploring the logic and understanding that shapes attitudes towards development and aid. We found that despite the current economic climate, there is still a well of public support for development spending but - and it is a significant but - people are beginning to reject the way the fight against global poverty has been portrayed in the years since the first Live Aid concert.
What needs to be done differently? The world has changed. What Causes People to Donate After Disasters? Oireachtas members continue to support Overseas Aid. 02/02/2012 at 4:03 pm Earlier this month, the Government launched its public consultation on the future of Ireland’s overseas aid programme.
In the consultation paper produced for the occasion, Irish Aid state that “there is good cross party political support and high levels of public support for overseas aid expenditure.” This is undoubtedly true. Even in the midst of the economic crisis that grips Ireland, the Government have held the budget for overseas aid steady at 0.5% of national income, and opinion polls continue to show overwhelming public support for Ireland’s aid programme. (see also this really interesting short video) Another measure of political support for overseas aid is the frequency with which our politicians use their speaking time in the Oireachtas to raise issues relating to development cooperation. On 56 separate occasions in the past year was the issue of “Overseas Aid” discussed in either the Dáil, the Seanad, or in parliamentary questions. Like this: Like Loading... NGO Communications.