20 May 2019

The Guardian: Pro- and anti-Brexit parties neck and neck in EU election, says poll

Three in five British voters say politics in Westminster and Brussels is broken, according to a poll that finds pro- and anti-Brexit parties are running neck and neck ahead of the European elections.

The survey, shared with the Guardian by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), found Britons nurture some of the highest levels of political disaffection in Europe, with 60% of those polled saying the system in the UK and the EU is broken. Only in France and Greece are levels of disenchantment higher.

Not surprisingly, disillusionment is highest among voters intending to support pro-Brexit parties on Thursday. Nearly 90% of those intending to cast a ballot for Nigel Farage’s Brexit party supported the “broken politics” view, according to the survey of 1,600 people conducted by YouGov.

Britain’s participation in the European elections has taken on an aura of farce as would-be MEPs campaign for seats even though the UK voted almost three years ago to leave the EU. Deadlock in Westminster has prevented Theresa May’s government from enacting a withdrawal deal it concluded with Brussels.

The impasse has infuriated some corners of public opinion. The poll found one in four people hoped the European elections would result in nothing less than a “revolution” in the EU, compared with 14% who hoped the 23-26 May ballot would amount to a vote of confidence in the EU.

But the contest between pro- and anti-Brexit blocs in the UK looks likely to be every bit as close as it was in June 2016, when the campaign to leave the EU won a narrow victory.

The Brexit party is on course to secure twice as many votes as any other party, according to the YouGov-ECFR poll, which gives Nigel Farage’s party 33.4% of votes. [...]

Full article on The Guardian

© The Guardian