Looking for the numbers behind the first-time voters poll in the post below, I came across this question in a survey about identity cards (where, to give some context, 81% of respondents thought ID cards were a good or very good idea, reducing to 68% on being told they would have to pay).

Q3e Agreement with statements:

The Government has a very poor record in implementing IT (Information Technology) projects, and one as large as national ID cards is bound to go wrong,

or

The Government already runs large databases such as for passports and driving licences and it is quite capable of running a national ID database properly

Agree more with 1st statement 33%

Agree more with 2nd statement 64%

Don’t know 3%

Putting the ID card debate to one side, these figures are rather surprising:  despite the unsurprising media emphasis on the things which go wrong, a two to one majority believes that HMG can deliver massive and complicated IT projects.

[The survey methodology geek I try to keep buried surfaces briefly to challenge the question design:  I think there are clear arguments for both statements – the wording has slid from application development in the first statement to live running in the second.  They are not at all the same thing – though I doubt that better wording would have shifted the numbers very much.]