Populus Poll

GDPR
— Just over half of Saga respondents (55%) claim to have heard of General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) before the day they took the survey. 45% say they have not heard of it.
— Of those aware of GDPR, half (47%) say they first heard about it within the last year, and a further three in ten (30%) recall having heard about it over a year ago. 23% are unsure when they first heard about GDPR.
— Newspapers and magazines (30%), the workplace (23%) and television (19%) are the most common places respondents claim to have heard GDPR discussed.
— The vast majority of respondents (95%) feel it is important to them that businesses and organisations keep their personal data secure. Nine in ten (90%) respondents want businesses to be more transparent about how they keep their personal data secure. Just 14% do not understand why they need GDPR.
— Half of respondents (50%) agree that GDPR will make their data more secure, and 53% agree that GDPR will empower citizens to hold organisations to account. Only one in ten (9%) believe GDPR is an unnecessary regulation that will hinder businesses.
— After being given a brief definition of GDPR, three quarters of respondents (75%) feel it is important that organisations give customers the option to choose how frequently they are contacted by businesses. 42% say that this choice is extremely important, while 7% say this is not important.
— Saga respondents are split on the acceptable frequency of contact from organisations. A quarter (26%) say once every 6-12 months, three in ten (30%) say once every 3-6 months, and a similar proportion (27%) say once a month. Just 4% say once a week and 13% have no preference.

Gardening
— On average, Saga respondents estimate that they spend £87 on new plants for the garden every year. Men outspend women on average (£91 and £82 respectively).
— Two thirds (63%) of Saga respondents believe they will spend a similar amount on new plants in 2018 and 2017. Saga respondents are more likely to say they will spend more (19%) than less (13%) on their garden this year compared to last year.
— Half of Saga respondents (50%) never change the design their garden or do so less frequently than once every 5 years. Just 4% change the design of their garden annually or more than once a year. 35% of Saga respondents say that their garden is constantly in a state of evolution.
— Respondents that change the design of their garden most often say they like to add new plants to the garden when they see something they like (46%) or their garden is an important part of their life and they like to develop it (25%) when asked the reason they change their garden’s design.
— Three quarters of respondents with a garden (77%) source their plants from the garden centre. Saga respondents also source plants from local nurseries (57%), supermarkets (41%) and friends (26%). One in five (18%) say they source their flowers from gardening websites such as Crocus, Gardening Direct and Saga Garden.
— Almost half of all respondents with a garden (44%) say that their garden is where they come to relax. Women tend to be more positive about their garden than men. For example, 45% of women say that they love their garden compared to just 28% of men, whereas 16% of men say they find their garden to be a chore compared to just 11% of women.

Medical conditions
— The most common medical condition among Saga respondents is arthritis or other muscular / joint pain (35%), followed by hypertension (22%) and hearing impairment (17%). Older respondents are generally more likely than younger respondents to have medical conditions, for example, 24% of 50-59s have arthritis or muscle / joint pain compared to 44% of 80-89s.
— Of those who say they have arthritis or other muscle / joint pain, the use of painkillers such as paracetamol or codeine are the most common remedial action (50%) followed by muscle rubs or pain relief cream (34%) and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (27%). A greater proportion of men (15%) say that they do nothing to manage the pain than women (8%).
— Half of those suffering from arthritis say that their condition stops or reduces their ability to do gardening (50%) or leisure activities like extended walks, boules, or card games (51%).
— A third of those (33%) with arthritis say it stops or reduces their ability to do the cleaning. Just over one in ten say that their arthritis stops or reduces their ability to socialise with friends (14%), do the cooking (12%) or look after grandchildren (12%).
— Only three in ten (29%) say that they can continue with physical activities like swimming, golf or tennis despite their arthritis. 16% say that their condition completely stops them from participating in physical activities.

Populus interviewed 10,241 Saga respondents, all aged 50+ online between 19th and 27th February 2018. Populus is a member of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules; for more information www.populus.co.uk.