The pressure group said voters felt both the leave and remain campaigns turned increasingly negative as the race wore on and many high-profile political figures including party leaders Jeremy Corbyn and David Cameron were a turnoff.
In a report entitled It’s Good to Talk: Doing Referendums Differently After the EU Vote, the society called for a “root and branch review” of how future referendums are carried out.
It comes after the prime minister, Theresa May, again pledged that “Brexit means Brexit” as her cabinet began devising plans for leaving the EU.
Katie Ghose, the chief executive of the ERS, said: “This report shows without a shadow of a doubt just how dire the EU referendum debate really was.
“There were glaring democratic deficiencies in the run-up to the vote, with the public feeling totally ill-informed. Both sides were viewed as highly negative by voters, while the top-down, personality-based nature of the debate failed to address major policies and issues, leaving the public in the dark.”
Of those surveyed, 29% said Johnson had made them more likely to vote leave, compared with 14% who said he made them want to vote remain. Farage persuaded 25% of voters to leave, although 20% said he made them want to stay, while 18% said Trump made them more likely to vote out compared to 12% who said the opposite.
It makes nine recommendations, including tasking an official public body to intervene when misleading claims are made by the campaigns, and asking Ofcom to conduct a review of an appropriate role for broadcasters to play in referendums.
It also wants votes extended to all 16-year-olds and the early publication of a definitive rulebook to govern campaign conduct, followed by a minimum six-month regulated campaign period. [...]
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