The campaign for Britain to leave the European Union has taken a 4-5 percentage point lead ahead of a June 23 referendum, according to online polls by ICM and YouGov, sending sterling toward three-week lows against the US dollar.
The ICM poll of 1,741 people taken June 3-5 showed 48% would vote to leave, up from 47% a week earlier, while 43% would opt to stay, down 1 percentage point from a week earlier, Reuters reported.
The YouGov poll of 3,495 people on June 1-3 showed 45% would opt to leave the EU, up from 40% in a comparable poll a month earlier, while 41% would opt to stay, down from 42%. The poll showed 11% of voters were still undecided, down 2 percentage points from a month earlier.
Of the eight most recently published surveys, one opinion poll was tied, two showed In ahead and five showed Out in the lead, including a TNS online poll published on Monday and two previous ICM polls published last Tuesday.
“There has been a couple of polls in a row all showing movement towards Leave; I suppose there might be finally some movement in the race,” Anthony Wells, director of political research at YouGov, said by telephone.
“ICM’s weekly tracker and indeed at least two other polls published in the last 24 hours, suggest a move to Leave might have occurred,” Martin Boon, director of research at ICM Unlimited, said in a statement.
Sterling fell below $1.44. The pound fell 0.9% to $1.437, having traded at $1.444 before the latest ICM poll was published. It had hit a three-week low of $1.435 in early Asian trade.
