ÖGfE survey: Austrians open to postpone Brexit date again

To prevent an unregulated Brexit, Austrians would be open for another postponement of the Brexit date, a new ÖGfE survey shows.

45 percent of Austrians support such an extension while 35 percent say that the United Kingdom should leave the Union by 1 November in any case, even if no exit agreement is reached. 20 percent of respondents answered “do not know” or made no comment.

Compared to an on-line survey commissioned by ÖGfE – a few days before the originally planned exit date of 29 March – respondents’ opinion shifted slightly towards the acceptance of a “Hard Brexit”.

In March, 57 percent of respondents said that negotiations between the EU and Britain should be extended to prevent an unregulated exit. At the time, 32 percent were in favor of Britain’s withdrawal on 29 March, even though this would have resulted in an unregulated exit from the EU. The number of those who were uncertain was 11 percent (do not know / no answer).

Background:

The survey was conducted by Sozialwissenschaftliche Studiengesellschaft (SWS) from 6 to 13 September 2019 on behalf of ÖGfE (Tel SWS 287). 512 persons were interviewed by telephone (representative of the Austrian population aged 16 and older / weighted according to gender, age and education). Maximum fluctuation range approx. +/- 4.3 percent.

Comparative survey: marketagent.com (18 to 20 March 2019, N = 512, online (representative of the Austrian population aged 16 to 69).