With the EU referendum less than 2 weeks away, Hitwise, a division of Connexity, lifts the lid on what the British public is thinking ahead of the upcoming vote by looking at search habits.
Based on the online behaviour of 3 million Britons, across the four weeks ending May 28, 2016, Hitwise reveals:
Top keywords included in searches for ‘EU Referendum’ and ‘Brexit’ (1st – 28th May 2016)
The Hitwise data reveals expats’ situations are the biggest concern among ‘EU Referendum’ searchers, while house prices rank as the main worry among ‘Brexit’ online searchers, suggesting Brits are primarily concerned about their and their family’s living situation after the vote.
Top keywords included in searches for ‘EU Leave’ and ‘EU Stay’ (1st – 28th May 2016)
Among searches focused on ‘EU leave,’ the findings suggest concerns and motivations are closely linked to immigration policy, while the economic circumstances offered by EU membership appeared the top reason for searches focused on ‘EU stay’.
Share of searches to Leave versus Remain in the EU by age group (1st – 28th May 2016)
While there are no major age biases among those searching to leave the EU compared to those searching to remain, Hitwise did observe that young Britons (those ages 18 to 24) are somewhat more heavily represented among searches to remain in the EU.
However, older Britons (ages 55 and older) are more heavily represented among those searching to leave, perhaps indicating a desire among younger voters to stay with the status quo and among older voters to go back to ‘the old way’.
*Numbers do not add to 100% due to rounding / Source: Hitwise, a division of Connexity
Share of searches for Leave / Remain by gender
The share of searches to leave are evenly split between men and women, however, a clear female bias can be seen in searches to remain in the EU with 54 per cent of those conducting searches around remaining in the EU are female while only 46 per cent are male.
