Almost Half of Britons Would Vote to Abandon European Union
Three-in-five respondents believe EU membership has been negative for their country.
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(12/06/10) -
British sentiments on the country’s European Union (EU) membership are worsening, a new Angus Reid Public Opinion poll has found.
In the online survey of a representative national sample of 2,002 British adults, three-in-five respondents (59%) say EU membership has been moderately negative (30%) or very negative (29%) for the United Kingdom.
Since June, the proportion of Britons who say the EU has been very positive for the UK has dropped from seven per cent to four per cent, and while 31 per cent regarded it as moderately positive earlier this year, only 25 per cent feel the same way now.
In the event of a referendum on the UK’s EU membership, nearly half of Britons (48%) would vote in favour of pulling out, while 27 per cent would vote to stay.
Pound Vs. Euro
When asked about the UK adopting the euro as its national currency, four-in-five respondents (80%) would vote in favour of the country maintaining the pound. This figure remains unchanged since the June 2010 Angus Reid Public Opinion poll released on this subject in June 2010.
When it comes to political leanings, 41 per cent of Labour Party supporters and 31 per cent of Liberal Democrat supporters would vote in favour of the UK remaining in the EU, but only 17 per cent of Conservatives concur. The level of aversion to the euro is very strong among all party followers (Con. 90%, Lib-Dem 80%, Lab. 77%).
Respondents aged 18 to 34 are more evenly split than older voters on whether the UK should remain in the EU. Despite that nearly three-quarters (73%) feel the EU’s effect on the UK has been negative, 37 per cent of younger respondents would vote to stay. Nearly two-thirds of Britons over the age of 55 (58%) would vote to leave the EU, and 62 per cent of them feel its effect has been detrimental to Britain.
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Full Report, Detailed Tables and Methodology (PDF)
CONTACT:
Mario Canseco, Vice President, Communications & Media Relations
+877 730 3570
mario.canseco@angus-reid.com
Methodology: From November 30 to December 1, 2010, Angus Reid Public Opinion conducted an online survey among 2,002 randomly selected British adults who are Springboard UK panelists. The margin of error—which measures sampling variability—is +/- 2.2% for the entire sample. The results have been statistically weighted according to the most current education, age, gender and region data to ensure samples representative of the entire adult population of Great Britain. Discrepancies in or between totals are due to rounding.
