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¹û¶³Ó°Ôº survey of 5,000 voters, with Yougov fieldwork, examining preferences on Brexit.

UK Voter Brexit Survey

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In March 2019, ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº'sÌýGrand Challenge of Cultural Understanding, along withÌý¹û¶³Ó°Ôº Mathematics, ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº CORU and ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº European Institute, supported a major survey examining voter preferences on Brexit. The research was led byÌýProfessor Christina Pagel and Christabel Cooper, with support from Dr Uta Staiger. The survey's fieldwork was done by YouGov, and the raw data can be .Ìý

The survey asked over 5,000 representative UK voters at the end of March to rank four Brexit outcomes in order of preference and found that Leavers now prefer no-deal to all other Brexit outcomes: 53% of Leave voters ranked it number one – more than twice the number of those who favoured Theresa May’s Withdrawal Agreement or a softer Brexit. Indeed, no-deal was the preferred outcome of Leave voters from every socioeconomic group, every level of education and employment status, from all regions and across supporters of all main political parties. The only significant group of Leavers who did not prefer no-deal were those aged under 30. The survey found that Leavers are relatively untroubled by the potential economic impact of no-deal Brexit.Ìý

The survey also found that soft-Brexit was not popular as a first choice preference, with most Leavers preferring no-deal and most Remainers preferring outright remain. As such, the researchers cited aÌýlack of compromise on Brexit options. These findings garnered significant media coverage and impacted the political debate at the time.Ìý

Owen Smith, the Labour MP for Pontypridd, used the results of the survey to make his case that Labour should support a second vote.ÌýMr Smith MPÌýcited the survey'sÌýfindings inÌýan in The GuardianÌýto argue thatÌýLabour is in danger of losing votes toÌýparties that are more clearly pro-EuropeanÌýat the next general election. The survey also received wide praise from leading journalists and analysts including Evan Davis (BBC Newsnight).Ìý

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