Brexit a neck-and-neck debate: Opinion polls divided on the outcome of EU referendum

Even as the day for the referendum in Britain on whether it wants to remain in or leave the European Union comes closer, opinion polls are divided on the outcome and show that the result could go either way, making the contest a neck-and-neck fight between the two sides. The Brexit debate, or the debate on the possible exit of Britain from the EU, has two sides: The ‘Remain’ side which believes that Britain should stay in the EU and the ‘Leave’ side which supports a Brexit. Apart from politicians, celebrities have also been saying a lot of things about the Brexit issue. According to YouGov, a website which displays trends on the basis of information collected from around four million people around the world, the latest trends show that 44 percent of people in Britain want to leave the EU, 42 percent want Britain to remain whereas the rest are undecided on the issue or will not vote in the referendum. [caption id=“attachment_2849314” align=“aligncenter” width=“305”] Source: YouGov[/caption] The poll, thus, gives a mere 2 percent lead to the ‘Leave’ side. However, the site also noted that like in the Scottish referendum, a move back towards the ‘Remain’ side is already happening, which could change the results dramatically on Thursday, when the referendum takes place. But it also noted that this move towards ‘Remain’ might not be enough. Only 27 percent of the British people think they will be financially worse off after a Brexit. However, 31 percent of ‘Leave’ voters also believe that leaving the EU is risky and 14 percent say they will feel ’nervous’ if Britain left the EU. According to another opinion poll called EU Poll of Polls by What UK Thinks, which is based on the average share of the votes in the six most recent polls of voting intentions in the EU Referendum, 51 percent of the people want to remain in the EU, while 49 percent want to leave. [caption id=“attachment_2849330” align=“aligncenter” width=“569”] Source: What UK Thinks[/caption] Thus, the EU Poll of Polls also presents almost a coin-toss situation about the results of the referendum. On Monday, support for Britain remaining in the EU stood at 53 percent, while support for quitting the bloc at 46 percent, according to a poll by ORB for the Daily Telegraph newspaper, Reuters had reported. The newspaper said this represented an eight-point net reversal from last week, when Leave held a one-point lead among definite voters with 49 percent to Remain’s 48 percent. Express had also reported that research body NatCen had published a poll which found that Remain got 53 percent whereas Leave got 47 percent, although that poll was conducted between 16 May and 12 June, whereas more recent polls were more unsure about the result. Britain’s capital, home to almost nine million people, encompasses some of the most pro-EU places in the country — and the least. In the cosmopolitan city financial district, where almost half a million people from around the globe work in Europe’s biggest financial center, pro-EU sentiment predominates. But just a few miles away the borough of Havering, stronghold of working-class East Enders, topped a national survey of the most anti-EU places in Britain. The two districts represent the opposing views at the heart of Britain’s EU debate. (With inputs from Reuters and AP)