ALMOST one-third (30 per cent) of the public would welcome the right to get their personal data erased from records held by political parties and associated organisations, according to a poll of UK attitudes commissioned by SAS.

With political parties increasingly targeting voters based on demographic and psychographic information, the study investigated attitudes around how voters’ personal data is being handled by political parties, alongside their willingness to share political preferences.

The research reveals that the older people get, the more likely they are to want their data erased from political party records. Just 17 per cent of 18 to 34-year-olds would want their data erased, rising to 25 per cent of 35 to 44-year-olds, and then to 37 per cent for the over 45s.

Just over one in five (22 per cent) of those aged over 25 would also welcome the right to regain access to any of their personal data held by political parties and organisations. Interestingly, this drops to one in 10 in the 18 to 24-year-olds category.

“Political parties are increasingly turning to sophisticated micro-targeting techniques to target voters with tailored messages but need to get to a consensus of one when it comes to personal data,” said Charles Senabulya, vice president and country manager for SAS UK & Ireland.

“It is no longer enough to establish one data capture and analytical policy that works for everyone. Individuals have different attitudes over how their data is used.

“It is imperative that political parties understand how each voter wants their data to be used and honour that wish. This is no longer a nice to have, come May 2018 this will be law in the UK2.”

The survey of 2,000 UK consumers was conducted by OnePoll.