Populus

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Populus is a high profile market research company used by various organisations including the Conservative Party, The Times newspaper and the Stockholm Network to create public opinion polls on political issues. The director of Populus is former Times journalist Rick Nye[1]. The company co-founded the British Polling Council[2].

Polling on public views to UK new nuclear build

In March and April 2011 Populus conducted a poll on British attitudes to the building of a new generation of nuclear power stations in the UK.[3]

It carried out another nuclear attitudes poll for the British Science Association in August 2011 [4] which unexpectedly found that support for nuclear power in the UK had increased after the March 2011 Fukushima disaster in Japan. Over 40 per cent of respondents said they believed the benefits outweighed the risks. Men were more than twice as likely as women to be in favour of nuclear. [5] [6]

Stockholm Network work

Populus director Rick Nye was appointed as secretary for Market House International[7], the company set up to run the Stockholm Network. Populus have conducted polling work for the Stockholm Network including a 2004 report into European Healthcare[8].

People

  • Andrew Cooper - co-founder of Populus, spent two years as Prime Minister David Cameron's director of strategy until October 2013, continues to offer advice to the PM and oversees data analytics for the Conservatives' election campaign. [9]
  • Rick Nye

Clients

  • Asda
  • AA
  • BAA
  • BUPA - 'Populus helped BUPA engage opinion formers from across the political spectrum by investigating the attitudes of patients and the general public towards the role of independent healthcare providers in the NHS'. This included 'a three-year programme of qualitative and quantitative research among the general population and patients and to provide a neutral platform where the conclusions and consequences of this research could be discussed openly and impartially - a thought leadership programme. This has resulted in two books Panacea or Placebo and What Patients Really Want published by Populus with the award-winning Profile Books which have included contributions from leading health commentators, patient advocates and the NHS Confederation alongside original opinion research and analysis. The results: As a consequence BUPA has been able to engage a wide range of stakeholders, using the medium of independent research findings, to demonstrate its strategic leadership in a sensitive area of public policy'.[10]
  • Conservative Party
  • Saga
  • The Army
  • Times Online

Affiliations

The Times | Stockholm Network

Notes

  1. Rick Nye, Media Centre, Populus, Accessed 24-April-2010
  2. Press Release, On November 15th the British Polling Council (BPC) will be launched, British Polling Council, Accessed 24-April-2010
  3. Populus, [http://www.populus.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/download_pdf-250411-Financial-Times-British-attitudes-to-new-nuclear-power-stations.pdf Nuclear ONLINE Fieldwork : 21st - 25th April 2011], and [http://www.populus.co.uk/Poll/British-attitudes-to-nuclear-power/ Fieldwork date: 2011-03-25 - 2011-03-27, acc 11 October 2013
  4. Attitudes on nuclear power, Published by British Science Association, DATE, acc 11 October 2013. Based on interviews with 2,050 GB adults online between 26th and 29th August 2011.
  5. Matt McGrath, science reporter, 9 September 2011 UK nuclear support 'rises after Fukushima', BBC World Service, 9 September 2011, acc October 2013
  6. British Science Association, website
  7. 288a Appointment of Rick Nye as Secretary, Stockholm Network Secretary Appointed 05-12-2003, Companies House, 05-November-2003
  8. Stockholm Network, Eye on Europe, Stockholm Network, Eye on Europe, Issue 1, Summer 2004, Accessed 24-April-2010
  9. John Owens, Number 10 strategist returns to Populus as Tories step up campaigning, PRWeek, 7 October 2013, acc 11 October 2013
  10. Populus, Case studies: BUPA, accessed 9 November 2010.