Mandela greatest campaigner, finds Christian Aid poll

|PIC1|Iconic rights campaigners Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King have beaten celebrities like Sir Bob Geldof and Angelina Jolie to the top spots in a new Christian Aid poll to discover the most admired campaigner.

Mandela, the former South African president who waged a lengthy campaign against apartheid that included 27 years in jail, topped the list with 21 per cent of the vote.

US civil rights hero, King, meanwhile landed second place with 14 per cent of the vote. Suffragette leader Emmeline Pankhurst came third with 12 per cent.

Next up were celebrity campaigners Sir Bob Geldof, who was voted most admired campaigner by six per cent of voters, and Angelina Jolie, a UN Goodwill Ambassador credited for her work with refugees. She received two per cent of the vote.

Christian Aid commissioned the YouGov poll to coincide with the launch of its latest project, Transformation, which will educate socially concerned people across the UK over the next two months on how to campaign more effectively on issues such as climate change and global poverty.

The poll also delved into the humanitarian concerns of the 1,965 adults who took part.

"We wanted to find out who people in the UK most admired when it came to campaigning, which global problem worried them most, and what they would be prepared to do about it. The results were fascinating," said Christian Aid campaigns manager Rhian Beynon.

The poll found that respondents were most concerned about 'poverty, hunger and disease' (31 per cent), 'war and human conflict' (29 per cent) and 'climate change' (15 per cent).

The poll also revealed a readiness among respondents to campaign on issues closest to their heart.

Around 75 per cent of respondents said they would sign a petition on an issue of importance to them, 65 per cent would vote for a party promising to address the issue, 49 per cent would lobby their MP and 27 per cent would take part in a demonstration. One of the more surprising results from the survey, more than one in ten (11 per cent) would be willing to break the law in a non-violent way for an issue that was close to their heart.

Seventy per cent said it was their right to hold the government to account for its decisions, whilst more than half of respondents (54 per cent) felt optimistically that the actions of individuals could help change the world. The poll also revealed considerable compassion among respondents with more than a quarter (27 per cent) agreeing that they want to show solidarity with those directly affected by world problems.

More than half (51 per cent) of people polled said they would donate to a charity that that aims to tackle the problem of concern to them, while 19 per cent of respondents said they regularly support a campaigning charity.

Only 6 per cent of those polled were members of a political party while 13 per cent attended a church or faith group. Trade union membership stood at 17 per cent.

"It is very encouraging that such a large proportion of people regard poverty, hunger and disease as matters of real importance - rather than just something that happens to people in poor countries," said Ms Beynon.

"And it is also encouraging that so many are prepared to take action to help tackle issues of importance to them by using their votes and signing petitions."

Ms Beynon said that Christian Aid would work to reach the 51 per cent who would not consider meeting or writing to their MP. She said they "may either lack the confidence, or just don't know how to set about arranging such a meeting".

She told political parties to take notice of the issues concerning people.

"There is a lesson here for people actively involved in politics," she added.

"Churches, faith groups and campaigning charities have the support of more than a third of the population (32 per cent) while political membership in the poll stood at just six percent.

"Politicians need to listen to the issues that concern people and act accordingly. Sixty five per cent of those polled said they would vote for a party tackling a cause dear to their heart."

The Transformation events will be joined by decision makers such as MPs and MEPs and run workshops on effective lobbying.

They will also challenge participants to start campaigning immediately by asking them firstly to take a 'Countdown to Copenhagen Pledge', which commits them to campaigning for a fair international agreement on climate change at a meeting of governments in the Danish capital in December 2009.

Christian Aid says the agreement "must enshrine the developing world's right to economic development" and "should require rich countries, which are overwhelmingly responsible for the climate crisis, to supply the funding and technology that developing countries need for clean development".