New polling has found more Britons would back Remain if another referendum was held today – with a majority thinking living costs will be worse after the transition period.
The snap survey by Kantar showed that 56% of the public would vote remain if a referendum was held again now, up four percent from September 2019, when excluding the ‘don’t knows’.
The number of people wanting the leave the EU has also dropped by four percent to 44%.
https://twitter.com/EuropeElects/status/1273609119400935426
The polling also found 15% of Tory voters at the last general election say they would now back Remain, and 6% of Brexiteers during the EU referendum would now swap sides.
Just 14% think the price of things they buy will be ‘much’ or a ‘bit’ better after Brexit, with 52% thinking it will be ‘a bit’ or ‘much’ worse. Just 9% of Leavers think prices will improve, compared to 35% thinking it will get worse.
https://twitter.com/andrewgraves80/status/1273883927132995585
With the deadline to agree any extension to Brexit transition period just weeks away, 46% (+8) of the public think negotiations are being handled ‘poorly’. Just 29% who think the government is handling it ‘well’.
More than four in ten people favour a UK-EU trade deal coming into force after the transition period (up by four points in April). Just one in five (20%) favour a no-deal Brexit (unchanged).
https://twitter.com/mdbuckley/status/1273878519718838272
The public are split on whether an extension should be asked for: 41% say the transition period should be extended and 39% say it should not, with 20% unsure.
The findings were tweeted by Europe Elects – which provoked plenty of response.
A user by the name @RemainerNow posted: ‘Almost 6 months after Brexit happened legally and it’s still very much not the will of the people (as polling has shown since mid 2017). The UK is #RemainerNow’.
Joe Mills wrote: ‘This is an incredible margin. Voters are seeing with their own eyes that there is no benefit to #Brexit. Politely, the referendum was based on spin and lies. Covid has shown we fail when we act alone. The case for rejoining (and rejecting this failing government) is urgent.’
Huff Post writer Mike Buckley defended the poll, calling the results ‘anything but’ irrelevant. ‘If voters think this now imagine what they’re going to think a year from now.’
Another wrote: ‘People voted for what the likes of Johnson promised, which was to stay in the single market, protect farmers, protect fisherman, get rid of unelected bureaucrats, get better deals and improve the economy.
‘He has done none of that and never will. Those who disagree don’t do facts.’
Former Green MEP Molly Scott Cato called it ‘heartbreaking’ while behavioural economist Leigh Caldwell came up with a possible resolution to the problem. ‘A referendum will settle this,’ he wrote.
More than 1,100 people were surveyed between June 11 and June 15.