British support for staying in the European Union has now been in positive territory for 7 months
In June 2015 YouGov began using the official question wording in British polls on European Union membership. However, as part of the monthly EuroTrack survey we also ask 'If there was a referendum on your country's membership of the EU, how would you vote?' Continuing with the question provides a measure of sentiment towards the EU across six countries going back to 2012.
From January to July 2015 British support for remaining a member of the EU has been in unbroken positive territory. This is the longest sustained period of support since the question was first asked on our EuroTrack survey in February 2012.
If we average out the last three surveys then British support for remaining in the EU (+7), which has tended to be the lowest of the countries surveyed, is nearing levels seen in Sweden (+9) and France (+11). Germany remains the most enthusiastic about EU membership at net +33 on average since May.
The last time we used the official EU referendum question wording in Britain, on June 2nd, Yes (the pro-EU answer) had a 10 point lead – 44% said Yes, 34% said No.
There has been some debate on the advantages for the pro-EU camp of being the "Yes" campaign. Prior to the campaign at least, YouGov found no discernable effect of switching the pro-EU answer option from "Yes" to "No". This does not rule out the possibility, however, that positivity could come into play as the campaign develops.
