29% of English people following the World Cup now think England will win

Matthew SmithHead of Data Journalism
July 06, 2018, 1:41 PM GMT+0

YouGov tracks English World Cup optimism

With Eric Dier dispelling England’s demons about penalty shootouts on Tuesday night, people across the nation are daring to dream that England is in with a chance of winning the tournament, and there is a palpable “it’s coming home” atmosphere across the land.

Now new YouGov figures can reveal that 29% of English people following the World Cup believe that England will win – up from 16% prior to the Belgium game.

The continued success of the English team does seem to be drawing people into the tournament – our first survey (conducted on 25-26 June, two days before the Belgium game) found 49% of English people saying they were following the World Cup – this figure has since risen to 59%.

While many commentators and media outlets are tying the support for the English football team with renewed pride in Englishness, there does not appear to be any evidence that attitudes are shifting. In a survey conducted in March we found 57% of English people saying they are proud to be English, a figure which is essentially unchanged in our most recent poll (59%, within the margin of error from previous polls).

Photo: Getty

See the full results for the first survey, second survey and third survey