“Bregret”—regret at having supported Brexit, the United Kingdom’s referendum to leave the European Union—was evident the day after the historic vote.
Fifty-two per cent of UK voters opted out of the EU—and afterward some said they hadn’t understood what they were voting for.
Others said they were sure the measure would fail, so they cast what they thought would be meaningless “protest” votes against “the experts” and the “political elite.”.
As one voter told BBC News the day after the referendum, “ “I’m shocked that we actually have voted to leave, I didn’t think that was going to happen. My vote, I didn’t think was going to matter too much. I thought we were just going to remain.”
Voters took to Twitter to voice their regrets.
As time passed and Brexit negotiations began, however, most UK residents came to accept that the split was going to happen.
Polling company YouGov found in May 2017 that about half of the people who voted to stay had accepted Brexit, with a total of 68 per cent of the voting population either in favor of or at least resigned to the UK’s departure.
The poll asked first, whether the respondents thought Brexit should proceed.
They were then asked, if they wanted it to proceed, and what terms the UK government should seek form the EU. Those who wanted it stopped were asked if they wanted a second referendum.
Bregret is Growing
YouGov’s polling also shows those who regret their “Leave” vote is rising. A lot of this can be attributed to government confusion in handling the negotiations. The government is not that strong, and hasn’t effectively explained the result it expects or course it plans to chart to get there.In April 2017, the government scored a +1 vote for its handling of negotiations. Polls taken in early October returned a score of -43 on the same question.