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The role of intuitive moral foundations in Britain's vote on EU membership
Author(s) -
Harper Craig A.,
Hogue Todd E.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
journal of community and applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.042
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1099-1298
pISSN - 1052-9284
DOI - 10.1002/casp.2386
Subject(s) - referendum , voting , brexit , social psychology , morality , conservatism , european social survey , european union , immigration , margin (machine learning) , disapproval voting , politics , political science , psychology , economics , law , machine learning , computer science , economic policy
In June 2016, British voters took part in a referendum on the United Kingdom's membership of the European Union (EU). By a margin of 52% to 48%, they voted to leave. Studies have demonstrated that fixed demographic factors were the best predictors of voting intentions in either direction, or that “leave” voters were driven by perceived threats from immigration. In this paper, we examine the role of moral intuitions in referendum voting intentions. In Study [Section 1. INTRODUCTION], demographic variables did not predict voting intentions after adding psychological variables to our statistical model. Instead, voting leave was predicted by political conservatism, social change insecurities, and placing moral importance on personal liberty. In contrast, only an adherence to the care foundation of morality predicted “remain” voting. These findings were also reflected in linguistic analyses of campaign materials and news items (Study [Section 2. STUDY 1]). We discuss these data in relation to common discourses around the Brexit vote.