Research shared by Cardiff University this week has revealed that a substantial majority of the British public are under the impression that net migration is currently rising in the UK – despite official ONS figures showing a sharp drop last year.
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Large percentage of GB News viewers – and general public – ‘wrong on net migration’
For the year ending December 2024, net migration plummeted down to 431,000, which is roughly half of the total in the previous year. However, this news has yet to filter through to most UK citizens, and those surveyed tend to believe that the opposite is true.
Around 63% of those polled think migration figures increased, and a further 18% believed that things had roughly stayed the same. Only 1 in 12 of the respondents correctly identified that the net number had dropped from the previous year – and one demographic is more misinformed than most.
The study reveals that 84% of ‘frequent GB News viewers’ believe that net migration has risen further within the ONS’ 12-month timeframe. The numbers are noticeably lower for people who regularly consume their news from the BBC (62%) or Channel 4 (51%).
More scrutiny required to help inform the public, Cardiff University study says
The ‘Enhancing Impartiality’ team based at the university stated in their summary that broadcasters will have to do more to ‘raise public awareness’ about migration figures, concluding that news bulletins need to highlight the ‘merits of competing policies’ to better inform viewers.
“We discovered that a high proportion of people who consumed GB News were substantially more likely to believe that net migration had increased than regular consumers of other major broadcasters, including the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, and Sky News.”
“Moving forward, the challenge for broadcasters… will be to raise public awareness about net migration when scrutinising the plans of different political parties, helping people reach an informed judgement about the merits of competing policies on this issue.” | Cardiff University