Poll Finds Brits Would Vote Strongly to Reject Re-Joining the EU After Brexit

Brexit
Mary Turner/Getty Images
Liam Deacon

The British people say they would reject re-joining the European Union (EU) by a thumping 16-point margin, if there would to be another vote on the issue in 2020, a new poll has shown.

Even among those opposed to Brexit in 2016, around 40 per cent did not think they would vote to reverse it in 2020, and just a third of those who did not vote or were too young said they think they will want to re-join.

Voters were asked to predict how they would vote in two years from now, after the divorce negotiations, in a Number Cruncher Politics survey commissioned by Bloomberg.

“Imagine it is 2020 and the UK has now left the EU. In this situation, how would you answer the following: Should the UK join the EU, or not?” 1,037 eligible voters across the country were asked between March 27th and April 5th.

In answer, 47 per cent said that Britain should not re-join the bloc, 31 per cent said it should, with the remaining 22 per cent undecided.

A strong 84 per cent of those who voted for Brexit think they would oppose joining in 2020, with only 4 per cent predicting a change of mind.

Of those who originally voted to remain in 2016, only 61 per cent would support joining, with 16 per cent preferring not to reverse the original decision.

And those that did not vote in 2016 were fairly evenly split between joining, not joining, and undecided. This group include those who were too young to vote, and who were reported at the time to be “progressive” and pro-EU.

In their analysis of the poll, Bloomberg, which is generally perceived as anti-Brexit, claims that “outside of Britain it’s commonly assumed that the country regrets its decision to leave Europe” and that “some inside Britain cling to” this view too.

However, “there’s very little evidence to support it” they explain, highlighting numerous past polls that demonstrate there is not strong support for reversing Brexit or even calling a second referendum.

They conclude: “Those who wish Britain to be in the EU may have more luck persuading the public to stop Brexit – provided they can find a suitable mechanism – than to rejoin the EU later.”

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