NUS Referendum: The Polls So Far

An initial poll conducted by the Soton Tab shows that the No team is way out ahead with only two and a half weeks to go until the referendum.

We posed the question “Three weeks til the NUS Referendum, how will you be voting?” and the results were as follows. Out of 241 responses:

• 45 for Yes 2 NUS, 19%
• 181 for No to NUS, 75%
• 14 for Won’t Vote/Don’t Care, 6%

The No votes lead the Yes’ almost 4:1 according to our poll. The numbers may have changed a little as people clicking the link will still be voting.

However, if we look at the Facebook stats for our poll it shows that really, indifference prevails. According to our page insights, over 5,000 people “saw” our poll on Facebook yet only 241 people voted. That’s a 4.8% turnout for those interested in the maths. Then again, SUSU are only aiming for a 3,000 voter turnout in this referendum (13%) Not very democratic when Chloe and David have both stated they’d like to see 10,000 students voting in the Sabbatical elections.

We’re not the only people keeping our eyes on the statistics. An ECS PhD student is charting the Facebook ‘likes’ of each of the teams’ pages over the course of the elections. The Tab results are mirrored there with a definite lead for the No team, albeit not quite as strongly as indicated by our poll. Sorry Meh2NUS, you’ve not been included in that poll though!

As the referendum date draws ever closer, we at The Tab predict that campaigning will continue to hot up. Expect the debates and controversy to spill out from the internet and on to campus. We’ll be seeing campaigners bombarding the concourse and invading our lecture theatres soon enough.

What do you think about the results of our poll? Can we rely on them? Do you believe them? Let us know in the comments.