Brexit Voters Say Economic Pain Is Price Worth Paying for Split

(Bloomberg) -- A majority of Brexit supporters are willing to accept an economic hit to leave the European Union, so long as it's not a personal one.

Sixty-one percent of 2,043 voters who backed splitting from the EU in the June 2016 referendum view "significant economic damage" as a "price worth paying," according to a survey by YouGov published Tuesday. Support falls to 39 percent if it meant them or a family member losing their job.

The poll suggests those who campaigned for Brexit remain attached to it even as signs grow that the British economy is slowing ahead of the March 2019 split.

Older voters are more willing than the young to accept an economic cost. Seventy-one percent aged above 65 said they would accept economic damage, compared with 46 percent of those aged 18 to 24.

To contact the reporter on this story: Simon Kennedy in London at skennedy4@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: James Hertling at jhertling@bloomberg.net, Andrew Atkinson