The public is more supportive and appreciative of those who push for progressive social change
Confidence is rising among campaigners – after years of feeling repressed.
A study suggests that the public is more supportive and appreciative of those who push for progressive change – despite an onslaught from media and politicians.
The report was published by the Sheila McKechnie Foundation, which exists to empower and embolden campaigning.
Almost half of SMK’s respondents said they thought the public’s attitude towards civil society campaigning had become more positive over the past 12 months, with 19% thinking it had become more negative. The rest said no change or they did not know.
Respondents said they felt public attitudes towards campaigning had improved because they were seeing more of it through high-profile groups such as Extinction Rebellion.
The survey, which has been conducted every year since 2016, also found that 45% felt politicians had become more negative towards campaigning and 41% thought the media had become more negative.
Researchers found a fall in the proportion of those who thought the climate for campaigning had become worse in the past year, from 49% in 2018 to 36%.
Almost a third said the campaigning environment had improved over the past year.
SMK said the findings showed that campaigners were recovering their confidence.
Sue Tibballs, chief executive of SMK, said: “It is brilliant to see civil society rallying and recovering its confidence to campaign after a long period of feeling conflicted and constrained.
“Conditions put on public funding have made it difficult for charities to speak up, and the sector has come under sustained pressure from politicians and regulators to step away from political debate.”
Top three threats to campaigning were conditions on funding that prevent lobbying, civil society not being as confident about its right to campaign as it should be and a general lack of awareness about what civil society campaigning has achieved.
The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) recently attempted to off-set this with the publication of its 20 in 20 book, which highlighted key voluntary sector campaign victories over the past two decades.
The survey also found that 95% of respondents said they wanted to collaborate more on campaigns with other civil society organisations.
