The Six Tribes of Brexit

This article in the FT, The six tribes of Brexit revealed, is behind a paywall. It describes the results of an Ipsos MORI poll of 4,000 voters carried out during 2016. It distinguishes six groups of people: three Leaver and three Remainer. Like all analyses of this type, not everyone fits neatly into one of the groups and not everyone in each group is exactly the same.

In my summary, I have just picked out the key characteristics of each group as bullet points, but remember labels like “older” and “left school at 16” mean “more likely to be older” and “more likely to have left school at 16 than the national average”.

‘British values’ Leavers (10% of population)

• older
• retired
• lean heavily towards UKIP or Tories
• live away from cities
• think immigration is bad, but not experienced its effects first-hand
• “things used to be better”

Working-class Leavers (15%)

• youngest Leave group, half under 45
• live in social housing
• live in north of England
• live in non-rural areas
• economically deprived

Moderate Leavers (18%)

• more rural than working-class Leavers
• least likely to vote UKIP among Leavers
• still anti-immigration
• left school at 16

Disengaged Remainers (16%)

• similar to working-class Leavers, but less likely to vote Labour
• Least educated among Remainers
• Least likely to vote
• live in London
• low anti-immigration sentiment

Young, urban Remainers (11%)

• Youngest Remainers
• renters
• highest share of students in group
• grown up in multi-cultural Britain
• militantly Labour and pro-immigration

Older, liberal Remainers (15%)

This is me.

• older homeowners
• university educated
• work in highly paid and skilled jobs
• live in SE and Midlands
• Labour or Liberal Democrat supporter
• positive attitudes towards immigration