EU referendum: Brexit enjoys massive Google search lead

Thomas McMullan Read more June 15, 2016

Data collected by Google from millions of UK users points to a huge disparity in the searches for the Leave and Remain campaigns in the EU referendum.

EU referendum: Brexit enjoys massive Google search lead

Between the period of 31 May and 7 June, searches relating to leaving the EU massively outnumbered those for staying in the EU. In a set of interactive maps, Google has illustrated this search interest, arranged by local government district or unitary authority.

According to the map, only ten districts across the entirety of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland searched more for terms relating to Stay than Leave.

In another map, Google has broken this data down to show the percentage of Stay to Leave searches across the UK.

Aside from the maps, Google’s EU hubpage gives an insight into the weekly search interest around issues relating to the referendum. Over the period between May and June, terms relating to sovereignty and national security have remained firmly below immigration, economy and the NHS.

The hub also shows that the most popular question during this period was “What is Brexit?” followed by “When is the EU referendum?”. The most popular question regarding Brexit and David Cameron is “Will David Cameron step down?” while the top question for Brexit and Jeremy Corbyn is “Is Jeremy Corbyn for Brexit?”

The overall top UK question about the European Union, above “Why should we leave the EU?” and “Why should we stay in the EU?” is: “Is Russia in the EU?”