Jamie 'better than Blair'

5 April 2012
The Weekender

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Tony Blair is regarded by Big Brother viewers as less likely to deliver than celebrity chef Jamie Oliver.

Some 70% of the reality television programme's fans felt Oliver was somebody who "gets things done". Only 29% said the same about the Prime Minister.

The survey result comes today in a study into Big Brother viewers' attitudes towards politics and last year's general election.

It found that political candidates are increasingly judged on their perceived integrity and reputation rather than their manifestos or speeches.

Fans of Big Brother felt the programme raised similar questions about the contestants to those raised about politicians in elections.

While only one in four would prefer to vote in the general election than in the Big Brother contest, 69% accepted that the Channel 4 show was less important.

How the Other Half Votes is published today by the Hansard Society, which champions participation in parliamentary democracy.

Professor Stephen Coleman, its author, said: "The success of Big Brother's interactive relationship with its mass audience raises stimulating questions about the scope for mediating political relationships along similar lines.

"If politicians really want to connect with broad sections of the public that have come to regard them as irrelevant, malevolent or worse, they may need to come to terms with approaches to representation which capture the symbolic, dramatic and banal aspects of human experience.

"Precisely those demographic groups which are most attracted to voting in reality TV shows are least likely to vote in political elections.

"Exploring ways of wooing Big Brother voters who remain resolute political abstainers could be seen to make sense."

As part of the study, pollsters YouGov recruited a panel of 200 Big Brother viewers to complete regular surveys from the beginning of last year's general election until shortly after polling day.

The panel replicated the main socio-demographic trends derived from other surveys of Big Brother viewers, with 75% female, 32% aged between 18 and 25, 37% between 25 and 31 and fewer than 2% over 39.

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