bovlomov wrote:Is that so? I've seen research (could be rubbish) showing how little the public was bothered about the EU, right up until the referendum was called. Rather than any unhappiness with the EU, might other factors not have been more important? i.e. general austerity-led misery and a concerted media campaign.
Until the referendum was called, outright hostility to the EU was restricted to a small band of loons, an even smaller band of principled objectors, and a handful of tax-dodging press barons.
Luckily, it is quite easy to find data from several different organisations with information about attitudes to the EU.
http://www.snapshotsfromtheborders.eu/w ... r-2018.pdfIn 18 EU countries this view remained stable or improved; to its largest extent of both +7 points in Sweden (73%) and the United Kingdom (60%). While this increase in the UK it worth noting on its own, it is equally interesting to see that the British share of “don’t know” answers has been decreasing significantly on this question, possibly indicating that more and more people express an opinion on whether or not their country has benefited from its EU membership. Potentially asked for the last time on this topic in a Eurobarometer survey, the share for “don’t know” dropped by 9 points in the UK to 10%. 30% (+2) of British respondents consider that their country has not benefited from the EU. This is amongst the highest scores
for the negative view among all EU Member States, together with Romania (30%, +7 for ‘not benefited’) and following Austria (31%, -7), Cyprus (37%, -3), Greece (40%, +3) and Italy (45%, +4).
https://ec.europa.eu/commfrontoffice/pu ... 318_en.pdf is quite detailed, but I suppose, since these were commissioned by the EU, folks could say it is biased.
The Pew research center have also looked at attitudes toward & knowledge about the EU
https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2019 ... ean-union/If you look at the whole report, you can see that they found slightly different results. The latest report was issued last week and says:
more than a quarter (28%) say their country’s membership in the EU has been a bad thing, the highest negative measure on this issue of all countries surveyed. This negative view is more prominent among Britons in rural and suburban areas (34% and 30%, respectively) than with those in UK cities (14%). British people ages 60 and older are more than three times as negative as those ages 18 to 34 about EU membership (37% bad vs. 11%). Likewise, those in the UK with less education are more likely to feel EU membership has set their country back.
Yet 48% percent of Britons said that membership in the EU has benefited their country, and 25% are unsure or don't know.
These surveys go back to the early days of the EU, if anyone is interested.
https://ec.europa.eu/commfrontoffice/pu ... b42_en.pdf was released in 1994, though it has been updated with an editorial to set some things in perspective.
“In some ways, it is easier to be a dissident, for then one is without responsibility.”
― Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom