Matthew Taylor

New poll finds twice as many young people voted in the EU referendum as previously thought

A new poll has indicated that in last month’s referendum, younger voters turned out to vote in twice the numbers as was previously thought. A Sky Data poll in June suggested that as few as 36 per cent of 18-24 year olds had bothered to make an appearance at the polling station, alongside a relatively disappointing 58 per cent of those aged 25-34.

However Opinium, conducting a new poll for the London School of Economics, found that 64 per cent of registered voters under 24 had cast a vote in the referendum, with a similar number for 25-39 year olds.

The finding goes some way to contradict the received wisdom that Brexit was mainly achieved through the apathy of younger voters. Nevertheless, turnout among 18-39 year olds still pales in comparison to that of voters aged 65 and over, 90 per cent of whom who were found to have had their say.

Professor Michael Bruter, who analysed the findings, adds that the addition of 16-17 year olds to the electorate would probably not have changed the result, but might have reduced the margin of Leave to roughly 500,000 votes, based on the LSE’s calculations.

Headline figures from Opinium’s findings:

18-24: 64%
25-39: 65%
40-54: 66%
55-64: 74%
65+: 90%

Sample Size: 2002

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