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Nation.Cymru Welsh politics and identity survey results

11 Nov 2017 2 minute read
Pictures (top left to bottom right) by National Assembly (CC BY 2.0), Sarah Joy (CC BY-SA 2.0), Judy Davies (CC BY-ND 2.0), Jean Francois Fournier(CC BY 2.0)

Preserving the Welsh language is the most important way of ensuring that Welsh identity survives, according to Nation.Cymru readers.

Strengthening Wales’ civic institutions came a very close second in a survey conducted to find out more about our readers’ views on politics and identity.

In comparison, few thought that ensuring that the majority were born or grew up in Wales was of any importance.

Fewer still thought that supporting the Welsh football or rugby teams were important, while preserving religion such as Welsh Nonconformism or the Church in Wales came in last place.

Welsh literature and music came in the third and fourth place, followed by preserving Wales’ medieval and industrial heritage.

Quizzed on their constitutional preferences for Wales, independence was the preferred option, although more powers for the Welsh Assembly came a close second.

Independence outside the EU was the third favourite choice, with the status quo in fourth place. Fewer powers and abolishing the Assembly came in last.

Nation.Cymru’s users were also very keen to stay in the EU, with only 77% saying that they would choose to do so. Only 8% supported a ‘hard Brexit’ with no access to the single market.

The survey was filled in by 956 Nation.Cymru readers, and the full results can be seen below. Some labels have been shortened to make them legible:

 


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Owain
Owain
6 years ago

Beth oedd maint y sampl? Mwyafrif yn cefnogi annibyniaeth? Hmm

Edeyrn
Edeyrn
6 years ago
Reply to  Owain

Last poll had independence at 32% whatever the situation/context….change is afoot

Gwynoro Jones
Gwynoro Jones
6 years ago

Fel Owain – faint gymerodd rhan?

glasiad
glasiad
6 years ago

I remember reading somewhere the number of people who took part. I can’t think of the exact figure but I think it was around 100, give or take. The results don’t surprise me. They reflect the biases of this site’s commander and chief, and understandably, its main readership. What the results clearly don’t reflect is the Welsh nation taken as a whole.

Alwyn ap Huw
6 years ago
Reply to  glasiad

It sometimes helps if on reads an article before posting a sneering response. The article says, quite clearly, that it was a “survey of Nation.Cymru readers”; so was designed to reflect the views of the site’s readership, rather than the “Welsh nation taken as a whole”.

glasiad
glasiad
6 years ago
Reply to  Alwyn ap Huw

Agreeing with the article’s premise is hardly sneering. The “sneering response” is in your mind only.

Muddy Valley
Muddy Valley
6 years ago
Reply to  glasiad

Good point well made, glasiad.

CambroUiDunlainge
CambroUiDunlainge
6 years ago
Reply to  glasiad

I think sport actually plays a big part in nationalism. One thats overlooked by nationalist movements… but it gets people singing in Welsh and people go out and support the Welsh national teams in rugby and football. Very powerful tool. So when i saw the result about how sport matters I thought “Well yeah most of these results are as expected and not really surprising.”

There I said it. Feel so much better. Usually sport gets sneered at by the middle class libertarian crusaders.

glasiad
glasiad
6 years ago
Reply to  NationCymru

With regard to biases, we all have them. (There is no such thing as an unbiased opinion.) So that is not a criticism, rather an observation. As for the much smaller number of replies that I remember, perhaps that was while the survey was still underway, or some other explanation.

Wrexhamian
Wrexhamian
6 years ago
Reply to  glasiad

Dos dim rhagfarn yn yr arolwg hwn yn fy marn i, Glasiad.

glasiad
glasiad
6 years ago
Reply to  Wrexhamian

Nid rhagfarn ond barn llwythol, ‘fallai 😉

Wrexhamian
Wrexhamian
6 years ago
Reply to  glasiad

Oes, efallai. Predictable results, too, but grounds for optimism, bearing in mind it produced nearly a thousand responses.

Eos Pengwern
Eos Pengwern
6 years ago

It would be more meaningful if we knew the sample size, but the results as presented give no clue; only one of the graphs has percentages along the x-axis, but if you assume that the x-axes of the other graphs are actual numbers of responses then they all come out different, and much less than 100. I was disappointed (though not altogether surprised) to see that ‘Religion’ came bottom of the poll. Even so, I don’t think there is anyone who seriously disputes that the Welsh language survived into the 20th Century because, and only because, of the Welsh evangelical… Read more »

Harri Glyn
Harri Glyn
6 years ago

Meanlingless without sample size, and as it’s not provided, it leads me to think that it’s not big enough to warrant this article being taken seriously.

Rhiannon aka Non (@nonwatcyn)

If you read the whole article you’d know how many took part. Copied from above article – ‘The survey was filled in by 956 Nation.Cymru readers, and the full results can be seen below etc etc.’

Eos Pengwern
Eos Pengwern
6 years ago

You’re absolutely right; well spotted! My eyes must have skipped over that last paragraph of text in my eagerness to look at the graphs (unless Ifan has edited the text since I read it, since I wasn’t the only one to ask the question). And actually, for a survey of this sort, just shy of 1000 is a pretty good sample size. It’s also quite a bit more than the number of regular subscribers to the site (686 according to the home page), so it must have attracted attention from elsewhere. That can only be good: the more this site… Read more »

David Clubb
6 years ago
Reply to  NationCymru

Amazing stats. Any chance you could have a ‘live’ stats counter on the website? It gives heart to those of us who sometimes think we are speaking in isolation.

sianiflewog
sianiflewog
6 years ago

Diddorol! Ah, but yes, we readers and ‘contributors’ to Nation.Cymru are hardly typical. The results of the poll show what we as intellectuals of various sorts are interested in. These are the ideas that are swirling about and, i hope will shape the New Cymru. Esgob Morgan’s translation of the bible was responsible for supporting our nation and our language, certainly not capel. In the 19century and especially the first half of the 20th century, our nation was supported by two pillars: Capel, and Marxist-Leninism. Capel has been shown to be the fraud it was (and whilst not a christian,… Read more »

Red Dragon Jim
Red Dragon Jim
6 years ago

Perhaps the biggest lesson is how different Welsh nationalist opinion is to Welsh public opinion. Support for independence and Remaining in the EU is far higher amongst the website’s readership than it is amongst Welsh voters. That isn’t a surprise, but explains alot.

I’m struck by how much pro-Remain sentiment there is amongst those surveyed, compared to people who leave comments on Nation.Cymru articles.

The Bellwether
The Bellwether
6 years ago

I suppose surveys and quizzes are always a bit of fun and worth doing from time to time to increase engagement by readers who can’t be arsed to comment or can’t string two words together. Yes I did it – too many questions! The comments on the original article showed up the various flaws in this particular one. The results are usually fairly predictable. I look forward to the next one.

jasrob
jasrob
6 years ago

`Working´- class, worked from 15 to 63 yrs, in wales, england, then scandia. Gradually moved from trotsky to centre-right.
Don’t accept that there are typical citizens anymore, and this goes for Nat. Cym. folk. Results reflect my opinions in gen.
Supported Brexit, now regret it, and would be surprised if other’s opinions had not changed. Of course, not living in Wales
I view things from another position. Would like to see articles from architects, engineers, artists, please. Let’s Go!

Bendigedig
Bendigedig
6 years ago

“I’m struck by how much pro-Remain sentiment there is amongst those surveyed, compared to people who leave comments on Nation.Cymru articles.”

Goes to show you can’t set too much store by the comments.

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