EU referendum question to be changed on Electoral Commission advice - Polidicks

Originally it was going to be [quote]Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union? Yes | No[/quote] Now it will be [quote]Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union or leave the European Union? Remain a member of the European Union | Leave the European Union[/quote] [url]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-34114303[/url] [quote]The elections watchdog has recommended a change to the question to be put to voters in a future EU referendum. The Electoral Commission said the wording proposed by ministers - "should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union?" - could be perceived as biased to the status quo. It has proposed adding the words "or leave the European Union?" The government has said it will accept the changes although the final decision will be made by Parliament. However, the development has been welcomed by those campaigning to exit the EU.[/quote] The EC always conducts a thorough study to find the most clear and balanced way of wording the question. For example the Scottish independence referendum was originally meant to say "Do you agree that Scotland should be an independent country?" but the EC got it changed to "Should Scotland be an independent country?" [url=http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/192075/EU-referendum-question-assessment-report.pdf]You can read their full 53-page report on the wording of the question here.[/url]

I guess I'm voting 'Remain', then. [editline]1st September 2015[/editline] I must admit, it's a bit less catchy, but that's better than people feeling pressured.

Fair enough. I'll vote to stay but leading questions are bad yo, and even though the difference might be subtle, on a whole country of people it can make a noticeable difference and that's bad

For some reason, I always thought that referendums needed to be explicitly a yes/no answer to avoid confusion.

[QUOTE=Bradyns;48598406]For some reason, I always thought that referendums needed to be explicitly a yes/no answer to avoid confusion.[/QUOTE] Well to be fair, "Remain/ Stay" are better options than "Yes/ No", because they don't require context to answer. Yes could mean "Yes, stay in the EU" or "Yes, leave the EU".

That is an insanely thorough job on testing the question

Probably for the best

[QUOTE=Bradyns;48598406]For some reason, I always thought that referendums needed to be explicitly a yes/no answer to avoid confusion.[/QUOTE] A yes/no question isn't actually that good at avoiding confusion. A yes/no question can be loaded towards either option whereas with this the answer cannot be loaded. I wonder which one will go first on the ballot though.

[QUOTE=Jsm;48601720]A yes/no question isn't actually that good at avoiding confusion. A yes/no question can be loaded towards either option whereas with this the answer cannot be loaded. I wonder which one will go first on the ballot though.[/QUOTE] The position of answers could be randomised on each ballot paper, similar to the Robson rotation.