European Interest

New poll shows more British voters would now back staying in EU

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More young people and those who did not bother to vote in the Brexit referendum in 2016 would now vote against Brexit, a survey of 20,000 voters showed.

According to the findings of the study by the Survation pollster for Channel 4, voters now would back staying by 54% to 46%.

As reported by the Reuters news agency, Survation interviewed 20,000 people online between October 20 and November 2, which it said was the largest independent poll since the referendum.

The poll showed sentiment shifting in whole cities, including Birmingham, Luton, Nottingham, Slough and Southampton, all now solidly “remain” having originally voted leave.

Sunderland, a city whose early results of a strong leave vote rocked sterling on referendum night, has seen support for leave fall by more than 10 points, with just 50.6% now backing departure from the bloc.

According to Reuters, British election expert John Curtice said the outcome of any new vote would still depend on who turned out.

“What lies behind this actually is an awful lot to do with turnout,” he said, adding that leave voting areas were seeing swings even though not many leave voters, especially older voters, were actually changing their minds.

“The swing towards remain has been strongest among younger voters. It’s virtually absent among older voters.”

However, if British Prime Minister Theresa May agrees on a deal, 43% would support a referendum to choose between accepting the deal or remaining in the EU, compared to 37% who would oppose a vote, the Survation survey found.

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