PRESS RELEASE: OnePoll (Affair)
Written: Tuesday 7th April, 2009
DOUBLE LIFE
NEWS COPY
More than one in ten Brits would cheat on their partner if they thought they could get away with it, a survey revealed yesterday (Mon).
The shock poll of 3,000 married couples also shows a fifth fantasise regularly about having an affair.
Nearly three quarters (73 per cent) are confident that if they were found having extra-marital relations with someone else, divorce would be on the horizon.
But despite the risk of a marriage break-up, 12 per cent of respondents claim to have already cheated on their spouse and a third have slept with someone else when in a previous relationship.
A spokesman for www.onepoll.com, who carried out the research, said: ''If this research is to be believed, there are a lot of really unstable marriages in Britain at the moment.
''It's all very well and good enjoying the odd fantasy, but to actually deceive a partner for a meaningless fumble between the sheets is not to be taken lightly.''
Traditionally, having sex with someone else is the determining factor on whether someone has cheated or not.
But according to 69 per cent of folk, a quick kiss with another person is enough to lose the trust of a spouse.
More than a quarter of people class exchanging telephone numbers with someone of the opposite sex as cheating, whilst 53 per cent would dump a partner if they caught them exchanging sexy emails.
Similarly, 51 per cent of people wouldn't trust someone who was sending flirty text messages, and for 14 per cent flirting is a complete no-no.
In fact, a whopping 63 per cent of married people say it is possible to conduct an emotional affair with someone rather than a physical one.
And for 49 per cent of people, finding out their partner had an emotional affair with someone else would be all the more heartbreaking.
A spokesman for Onepoll added: ''Different people have different expectations in a relationship - some couples are more than happy for their partners to flirt with others, and some find this too much to bear.
''It's up to each couple to decide how they conduct their relationship, and to lay the ground rules on what is acceptable and what's not.''
Four out of 10 people believe couples only cheat on their partners if there is already something fundamentally wrong with the relationship.
Twenty six per cent say anyone who cheats can't have any respect for their current partner, and one in 10 people blame the need for more than one partner on having a high sex drive.
A further 12 per cent of folk say often people cheat because they can't say no on an evening out with mates or work colleagues.
ENDS
Research conducted by global market research company www.onepoll.com
