ConservativeHome readers are unlikely to be republicans, so asking the panel about support for the monarchy seemed otiose.
However, asking them about its future didn’t. Lord Ashcroft’s recent polling suggests that about three in five people back the monarchy with roughly one in five supporting a republic. Do Tory members think that support for the latter position will grow?
The headline finding is excellent for King Charles. Almost two in three respondents have great confidence in the monarchy’s future. Only four per cent have little or no confidence in it. And under one per cent – a mere two respondents out of over 700 – say they don’t know.
So 77 per cent of those who replied have either great confidence or some confidence in the monarchy’s future. That’s a first-rate finding for the new king too. Mind you, eight per cent of the whole are “uncertain”.
And what makes the 29 per cent who have “some confidence” hesitate? After all, that’s almost exactly three in ten Conservative activists – not an insignificant proportion of the whole. Do they feel republicanism is on the march among younger voters? Have they reservations about King Charles? Do they feel the monarchy has been damaged by Princes Andrew and Harry?
I don’t know – and perhaps the survey will ask at some future date. Perhaps the panel has picked up in the ether a headline finding from our proprietor’s polling – that “though widespread, support for keeping the monarchy [is] not unconditional”.