Lisbon Treaty - Survey highlights strong No campaign

by infomatique | June 21, 2008 at 07:56 am | 205 views | add comment

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There is no doubting the fact that Irish people, in general, are in favour of EU membership which explains why the politicians were so shocked by the rejection of the Lisbon Treaty. The Eurobarometer telephone poll confirms what I had noticed right from the beginning of the campaign ... the YES side had posters promoting their party members rather than highlighting the issues but the NO side concentrated on issues (many of them false or misleading) which caught the attention of the public.

The Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs in the French National Assembly, Axel Poniatowski, said that Ireland should stage another vote on the Lisbon Treaty in the next 12 months. I think that he is right and that we will have a second referendum which should be very interesting as I assume that the well funded NO will mount a massive campaign. Let us hope that the politicians on the YES side will have wakened up by then.

The weakness of the Yes campaign in the Lisbon Referendum has been highlighted by new research which shows that a majority of voters - even a majority of those who voted in favour - thought that the No campaign was more convincing.

68% of all voters, and 57% of those who voted Yes, thought the No campaign was more persuasive.

With 55% of voters making up their minds in the last weeks of the campaign, and 15% on the day of the referendum itself, the perceived strength of the No campaign may have been crucial.

The findings are part of a Eurobarometer telephone poll of 2,000 adults, carried out in the wake of the referendum result.

The results show that young people aged 18 to 24 (65%), women (56%), and manual workers (74%) were most likely to vote No.

Those over 55 (58%), the self-employed (60%), and those who stayed in education until after the age of 20 (57%) were more likely to vote Yes.

The main reasons for voting No were lack of information (22%), protecting Irish identity (12%), and protecting neutrality, retaining Irish identity, keeping a commissioner, and control of taxation (all cited by 6% of respondents).

There was a significant difference in support for Irish membership of the EU - while 80% of No voters favoured membership, this compares to 98% of Yes voters.