Comparing British opinion on the EU to opinion in other member states

This post examines Europeans' attitudes toward the European Union, using data from the latest round of the Eurobarometer, which was carried out in November of 2014. For each of five questions that capture citizens' overall appraisal of the EU, I examine the UK's rank relative to other members of the EU-28. The results are highly similar if data from the previous round of the Eurobarometer are used instead.

The first question concerns one's image of the EU, namely:

In general, does the EU conjure up for you a very positive, fairly positive, neutral, fairly negative or very negative image?

Responses were aggregated into two broad categories: "positive", comprising answers of "very positive" and "fairly positive"; and "negative", comprising answers of "fairly negative" and "very negative". With respect to "positive", the UK is ranked 26th, ahead of Cyprus and Greece. With respect to "negative", the UK is ranked 4th, behind Austria, Cyprus and Greece. 

The second question concerns one's trust in the EU, namely:

I would like to ask you a question about how much trust you have in certain media and institutions. For each of the following media and institutions, please tell me if you tend to trust it or tend not to trust it: The European Union.

There were two main response categories: "tend to trust", and "tend not to trust". With respect to "tend to trust", the UK is ranked 26th, ahead of Cyprus and Greece. With respect to "tend not to trust", the UK is ranked 3.5th equal with Spain, behind Cyprus and Greece.

The third question concerns whether one's voice counts in the EU, namely:

Please tell me to what extent you agree or disagree with each of the following statements: My voice counts in the EU.

Responses were aggregated into two broad categories: "agree", comprising answers of "totally agree" and "tend to agree"; and "disagree", comprising answers of "totally disagree" and "disagree". With respect to "agree", the UK is ranked 21st, ahead of Spain, Portugal, Estonia, Italy, Greece, Latvia and Cyprus. With respect to "disagree", the UK is ranked 7th equal with Spain and the Czech Republic, behind Latvia, Italy, Portugal, Greece and Cyprus.

The fourth question concerns whether one feels like a citizen of the EU, namely:

For each of the following statements, please tell me to what extent it corresponds or not to your own opinion: You feel you are a citizen of the EU.

Responses were aggregated into two broad categories: "yes", comprising answers of "yes, definitely" and "yes, to some extent"; and "no", comprising answers of "no, not really" and "no, definitely not". With respect to "yes", the UK is ranked 26nd, ahead of Italy and Greece. With respect to "no", the UK is ranked 4.5th equal with Cyprus, behind Italy, Bulgaria and Greece.

The fifth question concerns whether one's country has a future outside the EU, namely:

Please tell me to what extent you agree or disagree with each of the following statements: Our country could better face the future outside the EU.

Responses were again aggregated into the two broad categories of "agree" and "disagree". With respect to "agree", the UK is ranked 3rd, behind Slovenia and Cyprus. With respect to "disagree", the UK is ranked 28th.

In conclusion, Britons appear to have some of the least sanguine views of the EU, along with Cypriots and Greeks. It is important to note, of course, that current opinion polling in the UK puts staying in about 5-10 percentage-points ahead of getting out. Yet the balance of public opinion on the EU has moved rather erratically over the last decade or so; just three and a half years ago in 2011, getting out was about 5-10 percentage-points ahead of staying in. In addition, given the connotations of getting out with UKIP and with nationalistic politics more generally, there may be a sizeable number of shy eurosceptics out there.