BREXIT Poll: 55% of UK voters intend to vote for Britain to leave the EU!!!

[MikeWB]

So much great news today!!! Screw the EU!





EU Referendum: Massive swing to Brexit – with just 13 days to go

Exclusive: polling carried out for 'The Independent' shows that 55 per cent of UK voters intend to vote for Britain to leave the EU in the 23 June referendum 


The campaign to take Britain out of the EU has opened up a remarkable 10-point lead over the Remain camp, according to an exclusive poll for The Independent.

The survey of 2,000 people by ORB found that 55 per cent believe the UK should leave the EU (up four points since our last poll in April), while 45 per cent want it to remain (down four points). These figures are weighted to take account of people's likelihood to vote. It is by far the biggest lead the Leave camp has enjoyed since ORB began polling the EU issue for The Independent a year ago, when it was Remain who enjoyed a 10-point lead. Now the tables have turned.

Even when the findings are not weighted for turnout, Leave is on 53 per cent (up three points since April) and Remain on 47 per cent (down three). The online poll, taken on Wednesday and Thursday, suggests the Out camp has achieved momentum at the critical time ahead of the 23 June referendum.
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Differential turnout could prove crucial. ORB found that 78 per cent of Leave supporters say they will definitely vote – describing themselves as a "10" on a scale of 0-10, while only 66 per cent of Remain supporters say the same.
Read more
British public knows very little about EU referendum, survey shows

The results will heighten fears in the Remain campaign that it is losing ground among Labour supporters, who are seen as critical to securing victory for it.  According to ORB, 56 per cent of people who voted for Labour at last year's general election now back Remain when turnout is taken into account, but a dangerously high 44 per cent support Leave. Only 38 per cent of Tory voters endorse David Cameron's stance by backing Remain, while 62 per cent support Leave.

Many people seem ready to vote for Brexit even though the poll shows they believe it involves some risk and think the economy is more important than immigration – widely seen as the Leave camp's trump card.

The one crumb of comfort for the Remain camp is that when people were asked to predict the referendum result, the average figures were 52 per cent for Remain and 48 per cent for Leave. This "wisdom of the crowd" polling proved accurate during Ireland's referendum on gay marriage last year.
The most scaremongering arguments for Brexit

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The most scaremongering arguments for Brexit

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      1/7 22 May 2015

      In his regular column in The Express Nigel Farage utilised the concerns over Putin and the EU to deliver a tongue in cheek conclusion. "With friends like these, who needs enemies?"

      PA
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      2/7 13 November 2015

      UKIP MEP for Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire Mike Hookem, was one of several political figures who took no time to harness the toxic atmosphere just moments after Paris attacks to push an agenda. "Cameron says we're safer in the EU. Well I'm in the centre of the EU and it doesn't feel very safe."

      Getty Images
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      3/7 19 April 2016

      In an article written for The Guardian, Michael Gove attempts to bolster his argument with a highly charged metaphor in which he likens UK remaining in the EU to a hostage situation. "We're voting to be hostages locked in the back of the car and driven headlong towards deeper EU integration."

      Rex
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      4/7 26 April 2016

      In a move that is hard to decipher, let alone understand, Mike Hookem stuck it to Obama re-tweeting a UKIP advertisement that utilises a quote from the film: 'Love Actually' to dishonour the US stance on the EU. "A friend who bullies us is no longer a friend"
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      5/7 10 May 2016

      During a speech in London former work and pensions secretary Ian Duncan Smith said that EU migration would cause an increasing divide between people who benefit from immigration and people who couldn't not find work because of uncontrolled migration. "The European Union is a 'force for social injustice' which backs the 'haves rather than the have-nots."

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      6/7 15 May 2016

      Cartoon character Boris Johnson made the news again over controversial comments that the EU had the same goal as Hitler in trying to create a political super state. "Napoleon, Hitler, various people tried this out, and it ends tragically." "The EU is an attempt to do this by different methods."

      PA
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      7/7 16 May 2016

      During a tour of the women's clothing manufacturer David Nieper, Boris had ample time to cook up a new metaphor, arguably eclipsing Gove's in which he compares the EU to 'badly designed undergarments.' "So I just say to all those who prophecy doom and gloom for the British Business, I say their pants are on fire. Let's say knickers to the pessimists, knickers to all those who talk Britain down."

      Getty Images

The ORB survey highlights the stark generational differences over the EU. Seven out of 10 people aged 18-24 back Remain and 30 per cent Leave. Support for Leave rises up the age scale to 64 per cent among those aged 55 and over (figures weighted for turnout). Crucially,  just over half (56 per cent) of 18-24 year-olds say they will definitely vote, compared to more than 80 per cent of those aged 55 and over.

Support for EU membership is highest in Scotland, with 60 per cent backing Remain. But a majority of people in every other region of Great Britain favour withdrawal when turnout is taken into account. In London, seen as a strong area for the Remain campaign, only 44 per cent back staying in the EU and 56 per cent favour voting to leave. This is due to the turnout factor. Only 66 per cent of people in London say they will definitely vote, the lowest of any region.
Take our EU referendum poll:

However, warnings about the economic impact of Brexit appear to have hit home. According to ORB, eight out of 10 people – and of Conservative voters – think leaving the EU would pose some risk, and only 19 per cent think it would pose no risk at all. But a majority of both groups are still prepared to take the risk.
Read more

    * EU referendum: Nigel Farage to become poster boy for Remain campaign
    * EU referendum: Brexit would see UK excluded from single market, German finance minister warns
    * EU referendum: Voters should blame government cuts instead of immigration, say Ed Miliband and Nicola Sturgeon

Similarly, 52 per cent of people agree with the statement that the economy is a bigger issue than immigration when considering how to vote in the referendum, while 37 per cent disagree.

Seven out of 10 people think the campaign has been too negative so far, while only 15 per cent disagree. The Leave camp will see this finding as a sign that what it has dubbed Remain's "Project Fear" has not worked.

Four out of 10 people believe that whatever the referendum result, it will not have much impact on their everyday life, but more people (44 per cent) disagree with this statement.

Polling experts say the result is still too close to call, and that there has been a late swing to the "status quo" option in previous referendums, including the one on Scottish independence in 2014. They also point out that telephone polls consistently give Remain a higher rating than online surveys.

Should the UK remain a member of the EU or leave the EU?
Weighted for turnout
     Now    April
Remain    45 per cent    49 per cent
Leave    55 per cent    51 per cent


Headline Figure (not weighted for turnout)
     Now    April
Remain    47 per cent    50 per cent
Leave    53 per cent    50 per cent

What people think the result will be (average prediction)
Remain    52 per cent
Leave    48 per cent


How much of a risk do you think leaving the EU would pose?
A great deal of risk    26 per cent
Some risk    55 per cent
No risk at all    19 per cent


When considering how to vote, the economy is a bigger issue than immigration
Agree    52 per cent
Disagree    37 per cent
Don't know    11 per cent


Whether we decide to leave the EU or to remain, the result won't have much impact on my daily life
Agree    40 per cent
Disagree    44 per cent
Don't know    17 per cent


I feel the campaign so far has been too negative
Agree    69 per cent
Disagree    15 per cent
Don't know    15 per cent


http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/eu-referendum-poll-brexit-leave-campaign-10-point-lead-remain-boris-johnson-nigel-farage-david-a7075131.html

[MikeWB]

Brexit Vote Gives Tabloids Chance to Unleash Anti-European Tendencies

By STEPHEN CASTLEJUNE 9, 2016
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Britain's freewheeling tabloid press has never been shy about pushing an agenda.

LONDON — Britons could lose control of their coastline. Their country could be scrapped or merged with France. And a nation in which tea-making is a daily ritual faces the prospect of a ban on its kettles.

Over recent years The Daily Express, a newspaper with a print circulation of around 400,000, and its sibling, the Sunday Express, have made little secret of their antipathy to the European Union, presenting it as the source of a variety of such unlikely assaults on Britain and all things British.

But with a June 23 referendum looming on whether Britain should stay in the 28-nation bloc, The Express has moved up another gear, urging readers to display a window sticker in favor of quitting, or — in the paper's words — to "STICK IT TO THE EU!"

Britain's freewheeling tabloid press has never been shy about pushing an agenda. But the debate on withdrawal from the European Union — known as Brexit — has given some papers a particular opportunity to unleash their nationalist and anti-European tendencies.

Facing declining circulation and ruthless digital competition, the nation's newspaper industry has ceded some of the power it once held to shape public opinion. But the hostility of some papers to the European Union is nonetheless a problem for Prime Minister David Cameron, who is engaged in a ferocious struggle to persuade Britons to vote to remain in the bloc.

One recent study found that of 928 articles focused on the referendum, 45 percent were in favor of leaving with 27 percent for staying (19 percent were categorized as "mixed or undecided," and 9 percent as adopting no position).

The tone of the coverage stands in stark contrast to the only previous referendum on Europe here, in 1975, when almost all the press was pro-European, including the popular midmarket Daily Mail.
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Not this time. The paper has not so far unambiguously editorialized in favor of leaving, but the tone was set in February, when Mr. Cameron renegotiated Britain's ties to the European Union, before recommending a vote to remain.
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The Daily Mail was not impressed and so turned to a subject that still preoccupies parts of the British press: World War II.

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"Who Will Speak for England?" asked a front-page editorial comment in an incongruous echo of a parliamentary speech made before the outbreak of war with Nazi Germany.

"As in 1939, we are at a crossroads in our island history," the paper wrote.

For pro-Europeans, the tabloid onslaught seems wearingly familiar. "Some parts of the British media do quite frequently refer back to the Second World War as the context of the discussion," Charles Clarke, a former Labour cabinet minister, said at a recent conference, adding that "the virulence" of the way in which some papers seek to set the agenda about Europe has affected the British political debate.

For critics of press standards, this type of coverage from the tabloids illustrates more profound flaws within the British media.

"Not only do they feel no duty to report what the other side is saying or give balance, but they feel a commitment to belittle its argument," said Brian Cathcart, a professor of journalism at Kingston University London.

"They are comfortably the most partisan participant in the debate, and anyone thinking that they are a vehicle for explaining the pros and cons of being in Europe would be under a complete misconception," he added.

Those on the receiving end of Euroskeptic coverage include President Obama, who, during a recent visit here, supported continued British membership of the bloc and said there would be no quick free trade deal with the United States if Britain quit.

The Daily Express's response was a banner headline on "Obama's Amazing Threat to Britain," and an article that reported "Outrage at his scaremongering over EU exit vote."

Nor is Queen Elizabeth II above the fray, at least for The Sun, Britain's biggest paid-for daily tabloid. It reported that the monarch supports a Brexit, based on accounts of comments she ostensibly made about Europe before the referendum was called.

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According to Mr. Cathcart, press coverage has a drip-drip effect from both "long-term negative reporting of the European Union, and dishonest reporting of the migration issue."

For The Sun, The Express and The Mail, the influx of European immigrants into Britain, largely from Central and Eastern Europe, has frequently been a front-page story, one that chimes with the most potent argument for those campaigning to quit the bloc.
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While most of Europe is focused on the flow of migrants from the Middle East and Africa, the Brexit camp contends that immigration can be controlled only if Britain quits the bloc because the European Union allows the free movement of European workers across national frontiers.

In February, The Sun's front-page article on migration statistics appeared under the headline "The Great Migrant Con," highlighting claims of a "migration 'cover-up.' " In March the paper reported on a guide to Polish immigrants on welfare entitlements in Britain with a headline, "How to Be a Pole on the Dole," referring to the British term for state payments to the jobless.

Other papers have given the issue contentious treatment, according to InFact, an organization that favors remaining in the bloc.

"The Telegraph, Mail and Express have published a string of stories on migration, terrorism, crime and control of our borders that contain factual inaccuracies and/or distortions," it said, announcing plans to complain to the country's press regulator, the Independent Press Standards Organization, about eight articles.

But those campaigning to stay in the bloc can count on much more sympathetic treatment from several other newspapers, including The Financial Times and The Guardian, and the left-leaning tabloid The Daily Mirror.

The Mail on Sunday has devoted much more space than has its daily sibling to the case for remaining in the bloc.

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In recent weeks both The Times of London and — intriguingly — the more rightward-leaning Telegraph, the favored paper of the deeply divided Conservative Party, have taken a pretty evenhanded approach to the debate, giving weight to the arguments of both sides.

This may reflect the divided views of their readers (including those reading online who tend to be younger), or worries about the economic impact of quitting the European Union on print media.

The Times, like The Sunday Times, The Sun and The Sun on Sunday, is owned by Rupert Murdoch's News UK. But readers of The Times are thought to be more pro-European than those of The Sun, so the papers could take opposing positions in the campaign's closing weeks.

However, according to Mr. Clarke, it is not clear that even The Sun will editorialize in favor of leaving the European Union, particularly if it calculates that voters will opt to remain.

Yet, in the end, the cumulative impact of newspapers' coverage about Europe is probably more important that any eve-of-referendum-day endorsement for either side.

Mr. Cathcart notes that British newspapers are "declining organizations," but that they still matter.

"It's a legacy thing," he said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/10/world/europe/brexit-britain-european-union-media.html