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Which means that 80% support this decision 6 years later.

ceejayoz 4y ago
That's misleading. 51.89% voted for Brexit. That leaves 41.51% now. 48.11% voted against Brexit. If that hasn't changed, the British public no longer support the policy.
- taolegal 4y ago
  But doesn't everyone usually say how dumb the general public is, citing the results when posed a ridiculous question? Can't help but feel people are citing democracy here when it aligns with them but otherwise they're scornful of the general public.
  - ceejayoz 4y ago
    British politicians abdicated their responsibilities to said public. The non-binding referendum with no implementation details passed by a tiny majority became "the people's will". I think something of Brexit's magnitude should've required more than a simple majority of the population to proceed with.
wongarsu 4y ago
Actually only about 70% of leave voters, with the other 11% undecided. I think the interesting data point is that 19% of leave voters would vote differently in hindsight, but only 5% of remain voters would. That's a 4x difference. But you're also right that most people did not change their opinion.
- xracy 4y ago
  This is exactly the statistic I was wondering about. One of the things that struck me about the original vote was that it was pretty close (~52%-48%). And the funny thing about close votes is how much power the 51st voter gets for their decision in spite of clear signalling that people don't actually know the answer. Like, the original thing you're asking is probably not very well understood or not very consequential if about half the population is for and against it. You can absolutely make a decision based on this, but you're asking a whole bunch of "armchair experts" their opinions, only to find out that they don't know because they don't have a good concept of the suggestion. So the change in opinions after the fact is actually probably a lot more meaningful than the original vote was.

That's misleading. 51.89% voted for Brexit. That leaves 41.51% now. 48.11% voted against Brexit. If that hasn't changed, the British public no longer support the policy.

taolegal 4y ago
But doesn't everyone usually say how dumb the general public is, citing the results when posed a ridiculous question? Can't help but feel people are citing democracy here when it aligns with them but otherwise they're scornful of the general public.
- ceejayoz 4y ago
  British politicians abdicated their responsibilities to said public. The non-binding referendum with no implementation details passed by a tiny majority became "the people's will". I think something of Brexit's magnitude should've required more than a simple majority of the population to proceed with.

wongarsu 4y ago

Actually only about 70% of leave voters, with the other 11% undecided. I think the interesting data point is that 19% of leave voters would vote differently in hindsight, but only 5% of remain voters would. That's a 4x difference. But you're also right that most people did not change their opinion.

xracy 4y ago
This is exactly the statistic I was wondering about. One of the things that struck me about the original vote was that it was pretty close (~52%-48%). And the funny thing about close votes is how much power the 51st voter gets for their decision in spite of clear signalling that people don't actually know the answer. Like, the original thing you're asking is probably not very well understood or not very consequential if about half the population is for and against it. You can absolutely make a decision based on this, but you're asking a whole bunch of "armchair experts" their opinions, only to find out that they don't know because they don't have a good concept of the suggestion. So the change in opinions after the fact is actually probably a lot more meaningful than the original vote was.