The assumption that leave voters are disenfranchised poor?

[TrueBlueYorkshire]

AIBU to be annoyed at the rhetoric used in the mainstream press that somehow leave voters are the disenfranchised poor from midland and northern areas.

If you look at the demographics areas i would actually say the opposite, Scotland, Northern Ireland and London contain a much larger population of asset poor people. While the rest of the country including the South and North outside of London who voted leave are asset owning, local community minded people. They voted leave to protect their communities.

I hold a commonwealth and British passport and voted remain for business reasons, but am very sympathetic with leave voters. Most of my family and friends in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa are completely sympathetic with leave voters too.

My facebook demographics:

about 2/3 of the leave voters: Own their own "forever" home, good jobs/pensions, big long haul holidays. Over 30 up to about 70. Most have degrees and had free university and lots of opportunities/privilidge.

about 1/3 of leave voters: 18-24, mostly low academic attainment. Work at selling Younique or min wage jobs.

Remain voters: 24-45ish, "squeezed middle" type demographic, about 1/3 home owners, but stuck on low rungs of the ladder, the others stuck in renting with no hope of buying. Either qualified professionals or have a trade (professional photography etc). Parents of young children.

didn't care enough to turn out in enough numbers to get the vote to go the other way. That might be a more interesting question now. Why was that?

www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jul/09/young-people-referendum-turnout-brexit-twice-as-high?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

That Guardian story is massively biased (as, I suspect, the study they're quoting from may be). What they sort of bury lower in the story is that it only counts the % of registered voters who voted. So if young people simply couldn't be arsed to register they've not counted them as not turning out. It appears to be very selective data picked to give a particular slant to the findings.

That works for all age groups surely

It was reported by The London school of economics and is also found in the Independent

Maybe someone can explain why they cant give real figures of who voted, my name and address was crossed off when i arrived to vote

Hope this isn't another thread for those who voted Remain to be rude and discourteous to those who didn't.

YABU if you think your anecdotal experience outweighs actual data. We all tend to mix with people of similar beliefs so it's not at all surprising that you know a lot of people who voted leave when you sympathise with that view. Similarly, I don't personally know anyone who voted (or has admitted to voting) leave, that's just how social groups tend to work.

All the leavers I know (me included) are degree educated professionals. Most of the people I know who left school at 16 voted remain. But I think a lot depends more on personal priorities. I voted out because of constitutional issues others voted in because they were worried about jobs

It's media spin.

The BBC has gone off its trolley post-Brexit; it really is shameful.

I know several leave voters, myself included, and we're all university educated and not poor.

My Mum voted leave and she teaches at an independent school. Obviously got a degree.

I voted Remain as did DH Hes 66 Im 43 and we are social housing tenants

I live in the leafy, countryside in the Home Counties. The number of £750k+ detached houses in pretty little villages that displayed 'I want my country back' signs was as depressing as it was predictable.

Not this again.

It isn't the assumption that the entirety of the leave vote was the disenfranchised poor, but the fact that they were the ones that swung it in one direction.

The fact is that in areas that there are regularly lowish turnouts there were far, far higher turnouts than previous. In lots of areas a massive % change. The BBC, Sky, Channel 4 and ITV reported this, as well as the fact that many voters saw it as sticking it to the elite, or to Cameron or whatever.

There may be large numbers that voted leave for what may be ( although I disagree) legitimate reasons, but the swing? That was the disenfranchised poor, and there is no getting away from it.

Sorry to burst your bubble.

Much has been said about who voted remain and who voted leave. What about all those millions of people who didn't vote?

Does anyone know the age groups/demographics of the Couldn'tBeBothereds Abstainers?

I agree OP. I'm a poor (but educated) remain voter. All my poor friends voted remain. Every person I know that voted leave is quite well off, some very well off.

It's really annoying me, because I think the media and establishment want to blame the poor for what's about to happen to the country. Actually, I'm sure they do.

YY Name Changer They are (in effect) gaslighting.

People voted for what they saw as best for the country irrespective of their finanical position. I believe that long term the uk will be better off out of the EU. We can design a fairer immigration policy that is more compassionate to non EU immigrants. Uncontrolled freedom of movement from the EU has caused issues. Frank Field put forward fairly strong arguments about how the poorest people suffered from freedom of movement.

How can it be right that we send home skilled non EU migrants in skilled jobs, but allow an EU citizen to come over on a coach with no skills or job or knowledge of English.

I hope we can get a trade deal with The EU, but the single market is not worth the sacrifice. The freedom of not being in the EU means we can make trade deals with the rest of the world.

Lots of leave voters may have felt disenfranchised, but for better or worse, this vote has proved quite the opposite!

Hope this isn't another thread for those who voted Remain to be rude and discourteous to those who didn't.

(1) This thread was started by a poster who states they are sympathetic to Leave voters, and is in fact trying to disprove the "usual" rhetoric about demographics who voted Leave.

(2) This thread has attracted many comments attacking "the young" for not turning out, using the oft-quoted 36% figure which, it has been known for days now, were bollocks stuffed with bullshit (they were an estimate based on not this election FFS). That's pretty rude and discourteous and stereotyping to an entire demographic.

(3) Is "discourtesy" (as far as I can see, it's mostly people asking questions and making points) on an Internet forum really that awful compared to (say) having racial abuse directed at people IRL due to plonkers emboldened by the vote?

Why do people have an issue if a significant number of leave voters were disenfranchised poor. I voted remain and live in the London bubble but I completely understand why people like my family in S Wales voted leave. Westminster has ignored them, they feel Brussels imposes on them, free movement of people is more likely to affect their jobs than mine. If the London political circles cared so much about a remain vote perhaps they should have spent a bit more time listening to the disenfranchised poor and including their concerns in the political debate.