At two or, latterly, three year intervals from 1997 to 2017, Ipsos MORI interviewed approximately 2000 adults (chosen as a nationally representative quota), paid for by National Grid.
This summary gives, where possible, the figure for any mention of overhead power lines, pylons, substations, or EMFs. In the earlier surveys this was not always extracted as an aggregate figure so the figure for either “pylons and power lines” or just “pylons” is given, as indicated in the table. The figures for substations have always been lower than for pylons/overhead power lines and tend to make only a marginal difference to the totals. Further questions, phrased differently in different years, have addressed views about the strength of the scientific evidence etc, but are not presented here.
The 2009 survey was conducted at a time of some concern about swine flu, which seems to have reduced the level of concern shown about all other health issues in that year.
Question | 1997 | 1999 | 2001 | 2003 | 2006 | 2009 | 2011 | 2014 | 2017 | |
1 | What issues, if any, to do with industry, public health and the environment in Britain concern you most these days?[1] [no prompts] | 1% | 1% | 1% | 1% | 2% | 3% | 3% | 4% | 4% |
any mention | pylons | pylons / power lines | any mention | |||||||
2 | Which of the following have you heard anything about recently in the industrial environment context/context of human health issues?[2] [prompted with list] | 35% | 34% | 48% | 38% | 39% | 18% | 21% | 14% | 12% |
any mention | pylons / power lines | any mention | ||||||||
3 | Which, if any, particularly concern you these days (because of these health issues)?[3] [prompted with list] | 9% | 10% | 13% | 10% | 10% | 5% | 7% | 5% | 5% |
any mention | pylons / power lines | any mention |
For comparison, from the 2017 results, the pylon/power line/substation scores compared to some other issues were:
Question | 2017 | |
1 | What issues, if any, to do with industry and the environment in Britain concern you most these days? [no prompts] | Pollution 37% Global warming/climate change 26% Waste disposal/litter 23% Traffic congestion 22% Fracking 12% GM foods 9% Nuclear power stations 8% Pylons/power lines/substations 4% Mobile telephones 4% |
2 | Which of the following have you heard anything about recently in the context of human health issues? [prompted with list] | Air/vehicle pollution 44% Fracking 36% GM crops 23% Nuclear power stations 21% Mobile telephones 17% Pylons/power lines/substations 12% |
3 | Which, if any, particularly concern you these days because of these health issues? [prompted with list] | Air/vehicle pollution 33% Fracking 17% GM crops 13% Nuclear power stations 11% Mobile telephones 7% Pylons/power lines/substations 5% |
The 2017 survey involved face-to-face interviews with a sample of 2058 adults representative of the population of Great Britain. Fieldwork took place in the period 30 June - 10 July 2017.
In accordance with National Grid's contract with Ipsos MORI, this summary of the results has been approved by Ipsos MORI as a fair summary.
See also:
- other opinion polling on EMFs
How these polls were conducted
These polls are funded by National Grid.
National Grid indicated the type of information it wished to obtain. The questions themselves were worded by Ipsos MORI and the poll administered and analysed by them. Ipsos MORI were told to find out the genuine extent of awareness and concern among the public without biasing the answer either way by the way the questions were phrased.
The full results tables
Here, you can download the full set of results tables from the most recent surveys.