We know that there is a class divide in opinion over Iraq, with polls showing more working class voters willing to back action and of course the middle-class nature of the ‘anti-war’ movement has been well documented. But is there a North-South divide over the issue?
My gut feeling (hope?) has been that there is. After all 750,000 people took to the streets to protest in London while the Manchester march last weekend saw less than 2 percent of that figure. OK, it was only a regional demonstration but a source in Manchester tells me that only 5,000 people from the region had attended the national demo a month earlier.
A quick survey of local newspaper polls in the North, reported by the Guardian Online’s The Northerner shows quite tight results:
Liverpool Echo: Should we go to war with Iraq? Yes: 43% No: 57%
Manchester Evening News: France – should it use its veto? Yes: 60% No: 40%
Middlesbrough Evening Gazette: As the rift grows over Iraq action, do you think we should go to war? Yes: 56% No: 44%
Huddersfield Examiner: Should we go to war with Iraq? Yes: 52% No: 48%
