Nearly half of people are prepared to change their vote for moral reasons. The personal moral standards of politicians and journalists still matter to most of the population, a ComRes poll for think tank Theos has found. The poll is featured in the Party Conference issue of Total Politics. 43% of people would change their vote if their local candidate was shown to have low personal moral standards, and even more (52%) would change the newspaper they buy because of the immoral behaviour of journalists. The majority of people (71%) think that politicians ought to have higher moral standards than the public they serve, and those most likely to vote (the elderly) have higher expectations than most. On balance, people do not believe you can divorce public from private morality. A majority of people believe that ‘If a politician is unfaithful to their husband or wife it does affect their job as it shows they cannot keep their word’ (51% agreeing vs. 36% disagreeing).

Pray: that morality and integrity would be considered essential for our politicians and a guide for a vote. (Jas.1:21)

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