Thread by @LizWebsterLD

11,225 volunteers took psychological tests before the referendum and were asked how they intended to vote.

Results suggest that leavers tended to be less numerate, more impulsive and more prone to accept the unsupported claims of authoritarian figures.

thetimes.co.uk/article/da4760…

Authoritarian people, who favour conformity and obedience, make up about a third of the population. In 🇺🇸 they account for a higher proportion of voters for Donald Trump.
The research suggests there may be similar splits in the UK.

“Participants expressing an intent to vote to leave reported significantly higher levels of authoritarianism and conscientiousness . . . than those voting to remain,” researchers said in a paper submitted to the Public Library of Science journal.

Remainers have their own faults. “Remain voters self-reported higher levels of neuroticism, and appeared to be slightly more risk-averse.”

Nigel Farage said research was “divisive and arrogant. Remain voters may have higher IQs but I’m not sure many could boil an egg or set up a business.
“The authoritarianism line is strange, as leavers want to be free, while remainers back an undemocratic, authoritarian regime.”

John Redwood MP was more scathing. “What a nasty piece of research,” he said. “We should remember it was intelligent people that gave us the financial crash.”

Perhaps key finding is not about brainpower of leavers/remainers but risk of using referendums to decide complex issues.

Many voters, scientists conclude, “lack the skills to critically evaluate information . . . raising a fundamental question as to whether direct democracy in the form of binary, winner-takes-all referendums is an appropriate mechanism for deciding complicated political issues.”