As EDM 2711 noted, two opinion polls last year indicated that the public viewed reducing flying and raising aviation tax favourably. They can be read at http://www.ipsos-mori.com/polls/2006/aet.shtml and www.communicateresearch.com/poll.php?id=85. The latter found that 63% of Britons would be prepared to sacrifice one foreign holiday by air travel annually to help save the planet.
Now we have the Mail on Sunday claiming "Cameron's green tax on air travel a massive vote loser". It begins "David Cameron's green tax on air travel risks becoming a massive vote loser for the Tory leader, according to a new poll". The article actually notes that, according to an opinion poll by BPIX, his voting preference ratings were holding up well and he was viewed slightly better for policies on climate change than Labour.
It says of his quota proposal for a cheap personal distance allowance equivalent to a return trip to Malaga, "Today's survey shows that people believe the limit is too draconian. More than one in three say any quota should be more generous." So it would also be true, then, that people do not believe the limit is too draconian, since nearly two thirds do not object to the size of the quota.
It would be interesting to see the actual poll results. BPIX does not have an active website yet.
Mail on Sunday's non-transparent polling ruse
It appears that political polling enthusiasts have long complained about BPIX, which appears only to work for the Mail on Sunday. They are two politics professors at Essex University but are not members of the British Polling Council nor the Market Research Society. They appear to be notorious for ignoring inquiries.
Reportedly, it is bona fide opinion polling with fieldwork conducted by YouGov. However, by eschewing the professional guilds, they are neither bound to reveal their results reports (as both above bodies require) nor redress their client if the client reports the survey findings in an inaccurate or misleading way (as the latter body certainly requires).
By using a pollster outside the MRS, the Mail on Sunday has much more freedom to spin stories based on poll results as it wishes.