Poll Archive
THE TIMES POLL – Banking bonus questions, February 2009
Fieldwork: February 11th 2009
published by The Times
| Net agreement | |
|---|---|
| Before bailing out the banks with taxpayers' money, the government should have ensured that there would be no possibility of any of that money ending up being used to pay bonuses to bank employees | 79% |
| Those senior bank employees responsible for decisions that led to huge losses should not get bonuses, but those who have worked in profit-making parts of the banks should be able to receive bonuses as usual | 37% |
| It is in the country's best interests to allow bank bonuses to be paid out as in the past, because the most capable senior staff may otherwise leave and go to work instead for foreign banks that do still offer big bonuses | -4% |
| Banks which had to be bailed out by the government, and which are now partly nationalised, should not be permitted to pay any bonuses at all to their staff | 30% |
| Those senior bankers who took decisions that led to the need for taxpayer-funded bail-outs in order to stay afloat should not only not get bonuses, they should be forced to repay the big bonuses they have received in previous years | 30% |
| The salaries of senior bank staff should be capped by the government, so that never again will bankers earn the enormous sums that they have in the past | 66% |
| The bonuses paid to senior bank staff should be capped by the government, so that regardless of how profitable they may become in the future, never again will bankers earn the enormous sums that they have in the past | 71% |
| The senior executives who were running the banks that had to be bailed out by the taxpayer have now made clear by their public apologies that they accept responsibility for the mistakes that were made, and are truly sorry | -5% |
Before bailing out the banks with taxpayers' money, the government should have ensured that there would be no possibility of any of that money ending up being used to pay bonuses to bank employees.
| All | Men | Women | AB | C1 | C2 | DE | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strongly agree | 79% | 80% | 78% | 70% | 80% | 83% | 84% |
| Somewhat agree | 10% | 7% | 13% | 15% | 11% | 6% | 8% |
| TOTAL AGREE | 89% | 87% | 91% | 85% | 91% | 89% | 92% |
| Somewhat disagree | 7% | 8% | 6% | 12% | 7% | 6% | 3% |
| Strongly disagree | 3% | 4% | 2% | 3% | 2% | 3% | 5% |
| TOTAL DISAGREE | 10% | 12% | 8% | 15% | 9% | 9% | 8% |
| Net agree | 79% | 75% | 83% | 70% | 82% | 80% | 84% |
Those senior bank employees responsible for decisions that led to huge losses should not get bonuses, but those who have worked in profit-making parts of the banks should be able to receive bonuses as usual.
| All | Men | Women | AB | C1 | C2 | DE | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strongly agree | 32% | 44% | 20% | 30% | 34% | 34% | 27% |
| Somewhat agree | 36% | 29% | 42% | 45% | 32% | 31% | 34% |
| TOTAL AGREE | 68% | 73% | 62% | 75% | 66% | 65% | 61% |
| Somewhat disagree | 12% | 9% | 15% | 10% | 15% | 8% | 15% |
| Strongly disagree | 19% | 16% | 22% | 13% | 20% | 25% | 20% |
| TOTAL DISAGREE | 31% | 25% | 37% | 23% | 35% | 33% | 35% |
| Net agree | 37% | 48% | 25% | 52% | 31% | 32% | 26% |
It is in the country's best interests to allow bank bonuses to be paid out as in the past, because the most capable senior staff may otherwise leave and go to work instead for foreign banks that do still offer big bonuses.
| All | Men | Women | AB | C1 | C2 | DE | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strongly agree | 19% | 27% | 12% | 15% | 20% | 21% | 19% |
| Somewhat agree | 27% | 25% | 30% | 31% | 26% | 30% | 23% |
| TOTAL AGREE | 46% | 52% | 42% | 46% | 46% | 51% | 42% |
| Somewhat disagree | 16% | 12% | 19% | 18% | 14% | 11% | 19% |
| Strongly disagree | 34% | 35% | 34% | 31% | 39% | 35% | 32% |
| TOTAL DISAGREE | 50% | 47% | 53% | 49% | 53% | 46% | 51% |
| Net agree | -4% | 5% | -11% | -3% | -7% | 5% | -9% |
Banks which had to be bailed out by the government, and which are now partly nationalised, should not be permitted to pay any bonuses at all to their staff.
| All | Men | Women | AB | C1 | C2 | DE | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strongly agree | 44% | 41% | 47% | 29% | 45% | 50% | 53% |
| Somewhat agree | 20% | 18% | 22% | 24% | 17% | 21% | 20% |
| TOTAL AGREE | 64% | 59% | 69% | 53% | 62% | 71% | 73% |
| Somewhat disagree | 23% | 27% | 19% | 31% | 28% | 17% | 14% |
| Strongly disagree | 11% | 12% | 9% | 14% | 9% | 10% | 9% |
| TOTAL DISAGREE | 34% | 39% | 28% | 45% | 37% | 27% | 23% |
| Net agree | 30% | 20% | 41% | 8% | 25% | 44% | 50% |
Those senior bankers who took decisions that led to the need for taxpayer-funded bail-outs in order to stay afloat should not only not get bonuses, they should be forced to repay the big bonuses they have received in previous years.
| All | Men | Women | AB | C1 | C2 | DE | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strongly agree | 45% | 46% | 44% | 34% | 44% | 44% | 58% |
| Somewhat agree | 19% | 18% | 20% | 17% | 17% | 26% | 18% |
| TOTAL AGREE | 64% | 64% | 64% | 51% | 61% | 70% | 76% |
| Somewhat disagree | 21% | 21% | 20% | 29% | 19% | 20% | 15% |
| Strongly disagree | 13% | 13% | 14% | 18% | 16% | 9% | 9% |
| TOTAL DISAGREE | 34% | 34% | 34% | 47% | 35% | 29% | 24% |
| Net agree | 30% | 30% | 30% | 4% | 26% | 41% | 52% |
The salaries of senior bank staff should be capped by the government, so that never again will bankers earn the enormous sums that they have in the past.
| All | Men | Women | AB | C1 | C2 | DE | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strongly agree | 66% | 64% | 68% | 56% | 60% | 73% | 79% |
| Somewhat agree | 16% | 14% | 19% | 17% | 23% | 13% | 11% |
| TOTAL AGREE | 82% | 78% | 87% | 73% | 83% | 86% | 90% |
| Somewhat disagree | 11% | 13% | 9% | 18% | 11% | 10% | 4% |
| Strongly disagree | 5% | 8% | 3% | 8% | 5% | 4% | 4% |
| TOTAL DISAGREE | 16% | 21% | 12% | 26% | 16% | 14% | 8% |
| Net agree | 66% | 57% | 75% | 47% | 67% | 72% | 82% |
The bonuses paid to senior bank staff should be capped by the government, so that regardless of how profitable they may become in the future, never again will bankers earn the enormous sums that they have in the past.
| All | Men | Women | AB | C1 | C2 | DE | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strongly agree | 67% | 70% | 64% | 53% | 64% | 82% | 71% |
| Somewhat agree | 18% | 14% | 23% | 23% | 24% | 8% | 16% |
| TOTAL AGREE | 85% | 84% | 87% | 76% | 88% | 90% | 87% |
| Somewhat disagree | 8% | 7% | 8% | 13% | 7% | 3% | 6% |
| Strongly disagree | 6% | 6% | 5% | 7% | 5% | 7% | 5% |
| TOTAL DISAGREE | 14% | 13% | 13% | 20% | 12% | 10% | 11% |
| Net agree | 71% | 71% | 74% | 56% | 76% | 80% | 76% |
The senior executives who were running the banks that had to be bailed out by the taxpayer have now made clear by their public apologies that they accept responsibility for the mistakes that were made, and are truly sorry.
| All | Men | Women | AB | C1 | C2 | DE | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strongly agree | 22% | 27% | 18% | 19% | 16% | 30% | 26% |
| Somewhat agree | 23% | 22% | 25% | 27% | 28% | 12% | 23% |
| TOTAL AGREE | 45% | 49% | 43% | 46% | 44% | 42% | 49% |
| Somewhat disagree | 20% | 16% | 24% | 20% | 20% | 28% | 15% |
| Strongly disagree | 30% | 32% | 28% | 30% | 34% | 27% | 28% |
| TOTAL DISAGREE | 50% | 48% | 52% | 50% | 54% | 55% | 43% |
| Net agree | -5% | 1% | -9% | -4% | -10% | -13% | 6% |
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