Was Trump or Brexit the Bigger Mistake? The Answer Is Clear
As Americans and Britons are discovering, nations can recover from bad elections far more easily than from bad referendums.
The US is moving on.
Photographer: Jason Koerner/Getty Images
In the postwar era, three nationwide referendums have been held in Britain. Two of them asked the British people to answer a simple question about a complicated issue. In 1975, the question was whether Britain should join the European Economic Community. Roughly 2 out of 3 voters said yes. In 2016, it was whether Britain should stay in the European Union. Just under 52% voted no.
Even fervent advocates of Britain’s break from the EU are now hard-pressed to name one result of Brexit that has made Britain a better place. Former Bank of England governor Mark Carney has noted that whereas in 2016 Britain’s economy was 90% the size of Germany’s, it’s now only 70% as big. For many people, including business owners and farmers, Brexit has been a disaster. Polls indicate that 56% of the British people think Brexit was a mistake.