Public support is overwhelmingly behind the junior doctors — for now

Today’s junior doctor’s strike differs from other industrial disputes for a simple reason: people like doctors. In recent times, the government has managed to paint Tube drivers as dinosaurs who are standing in the way of technological progress. But it’s much harder to do that with doctors, so the public is firmly behind the strikers.

According to a new poll from Ipsos Mori and BBC Newsnight, two thirds of the public support the junior doctors’ strike, compared to 16 per cent who oppose it. Fifteen per cent are neutral and four per cent say they don’t know.

The striking doctors have conveyed their message well: 64 per cent think the doctors are striking over “work” and 60 per cent think it’s about “pay”. It has not become a political issue about trade unions or bashing the government; just eight per cent think the strike is about politics.

Since the junior doctor’s strike was cancelled at the end of last year, support appears to have shifted away from the government. In November 2015, YouGov conducted a round of polling about the then-impending strike and the public was again in favour of the doctors. 51 per cent said they supported a partial strike (where emergency cover would remain) while 45 per cent supported a full strike, where no junior doctors would work at all.

Crucially, today’s strike has left emergency cover in place — with a reported 38 per cent of junior doctors turning up to work as the British Medical Association had arranged. There is another 48-hour strike pencilled in for 26 January and an all-out strike with no emergency cover for 10 February. The Ipsos Mori polling suggests that support for striking drops by 22 per cent when there is no emergency cover.

If the doctors don’t come to an agreement with the government before the second strike is due, they may find the public are no longer as sympathetic.