Majority of Britons want EU´s powers curtailed, survey finds

A majority of Britons wanted to remain in the European Union; but to a certain extent that depended on whom you asked, the results of three opinion polls found.

The very mixed results came after one pollster modified the methodology it used, in an attempt to avoid the large forecast errors committed in the last elections, while the most detailed survey also revealed a much larger degree of unease with the EU´s powers.

According to a ComRes poll for the Daily Mail, 51% of those canvassed said they wanted to remain in the EU, while 39% said they would vote to 'leave'.

ComRes said the Prime Minister´s efforts to clinch a deal with Brussels had in fact dented the 'in' camp.

In parallel, a poll carried out by YouGov for The Times newspaper found the race between both camps ahead of the 23 June plebiscite was a dead heat, with those saying they wanted to 'remain' at 37% versus 36% saying they wanted 'out'.

However, the first of those polls was conducted over the telephone and the latter online.

YouGov´s poll was also the first to incorporate a new statistical method that assigned a greater weight to those who said they paid 'little attention' to politics.

That change was put in place because in the last election polls were thought to have put too much emphasis on the opinions of those who were 'highly engaged' in politics.

"Judging how many people really have an opinion and will turn out to vote is the big question of this campaign," YouGov's Anthony Wells and Stephan Shakespeare said in an analysis of both polls.

"Polls three or four months before a referendum have tended to be poor predictors, but ours show that Remain has notable advantages: leaving is seen as bad for jobs, bad for British influence, bad for the economy. Remaining is seen to be the safe option."

The British Social Attitudes Survey, which was carried out between July and November of 2015, through face-to-face interviews, found that given a straight choice between staying 'in' or getting 'out', 60% of those asked said they would rather 'remain' inside Europe, against 30% who said they wanted to 'leave'.

Nevertheless, of the 1,105 adults canvassed 22% said they wanted to exit, while another 43% said they wanted the EU´s powers reduced, for a total of 65% of voters who were Europskeptic to varying degrees.

Only 24% believed they would be "economically" better-off if the UK abandoned the European club of nations, versus the 40% who said they expected to come out worse off.