Sputnik survey finds growing number of Eurosceptics in EU

A significant share of people in European countries support the idea of holding a referendum on leaving the EU, according to the results of a Sputnik.Polls survey.

More than half of respondents in Italy (53%) said they support holding a referendum of this kind, followed by France (47%), Germany (43%), Spain (39%), and Poland (38%). The poll was conducted by Ifop for Sputnik news agency and radio.

When asked "Do you want your country to hold a referendum on leaving the EU like in Britain?" 62% of respondents in Poland, 61% in Spain, 57% in Germany, 53% in France and 47% in Italy answered in the negative. It is worth noting that compared to July 2016* the share of those supporting a referendum increased in Spain from 34% to 39%, from 46% to 53% in Italy, and from 33% to 38% in Poland.

The poll was conducted by Ifop, France's oldest opinion and market research company, between October 22 and 26, 2016. In total, 5,019 respondents aged 18 and older took part in the poll in France, Germany, Spain, Italy, and Poland. The sample was representative in terms of gender, age, and location. The margin of error was 3.1 percent by country, with a 95 percent confidence interval.