Leave campaigners are concerned that a massive tax payer-funded push to register more than one million young people to vote will drastically alter the country’s European Union (EU) referendum result.
Government statistics reveal that in the past month alone, over 1.6 million people have registered to vote in the UK referendum on EU membership, with 900,000 of these registrations coming from those aged under 34 years.
Traditionally, younger voters are more inclined to vote to Remain in the European Union than leave. Recent YouGov polling reveals that those under the age of 24 are likely to vote ‘Remain’ by 64 per cent to 18 per cent, with 5 per cent saying they would not vote, and 13 per cent remaining undecided.
Of the age group 25-49, Remain has the backing of 44 per cent of voters, with just 35 per cent saying they’d vote to leave (six per cent would not vote, and 14 per cent are undecided).
The British government has undertaken a massive voter registration campaign, as has the Labour Party and a number of left-wing, pro-EU outfits such as the BBC, Facebook, local councils, Bite the Ballot, 38 Degrees, the Green Party, and more.
Just 3 days to register to vote in the EU referendum. Register here (you'll need your National Insurance number): https://t.co/vdRSW8NN4m
— David Cameron (@David_Cameron) June 4, 2016
One Leave campaign insider told Breitbart London: “It’s very interesting, isn’t it? Vote Leave haven’t really managed to do any voter registration drive. Nor do they have a get out the vote operation on the day. There’s no big data. The other side have the Lib Dem data, the Labour Party data, the Green Party data, and much more. I’m not saying this referendum isn’t winnable, but our side has done very little – relying on flawed polls and media instead”.
The government has not yet revealed how much tax payer money it has spent on the voter registration drive, but there have been adverts across traditional media platforms, as well as on Facebook and Twitter.
While over 53 per cent of newly registered voters are younger people, just 27 per cent of new registrations are over 45, the group most likely to vote to leave the European Union. The rest (18.5 per cent) are from the 35-44 age bracket.
On June 3rd, in one day alone, a whopping 192,000 people registered to vote, with 51,700 of these being under 25, and 21,400 of these being between the ages of 25 and 34.
Of a total 1.6 million registrations in 30 days, 95 per cent were conducted online, with just 5 per cent filed by post.
Ninety-four per cent of registrations were from UK citizens, with 5 per cent from UK citizens abroad, and just 0.05 per cent from civil servants abroad, and 0.02 per cent from UK Armed forces abroad.
Matthew Goodwin, Professor of Politics and International Relations at the University of Kent told Breitbart London: “To have an edge on June 23rd the Leave camp will need to be out there on the ground, contacting more voters and focusing their efforts on getting out the vote.
“It is clear from our research that Vote Leave are currently failing to keep pace with Remain when it comes to their number of events and reach. It is also clear that whereas Remain are focused on the densely-populated and more diverse cities, trying to mobilise young people, the Leave side are scattered more widely and seem to have a little less focus”.
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