Narrow ‘Yes’ lead holds as Iceland’s EU referendum enters final week
The race ahead of Saturday’s referendum on resuming EU accession talks is tightening, with a new Maskína poll for Vísir putting the yes side at 51.3 percent and the no side at 48.7 percent among voters who have taken a position.
A further 8.5 percent said they were undecided and 3.4 percent declined to answer, leaving roughly one in eight voters unaccounted for days before polling.
Maskína recorded 53.0 percent support for reopening talks in July and 52.2 percent on 13 August. Each successive reading has shaved off close to a point, leaving a lead narrow enough that turnout and late deciders could decide the outcome. The latest poll was conducted between 21 and 25 August.
Gallup’s Þjóðarpúls, published on 14 August, found much the same picture: 51.5 percent yes to 48.5 percent no, with a margin of error of 2.5 percentage points on each side — meaning the difference between the two camps was not statistically significant. Seven percent of respondents were undecided and one percent gave no answer.
The Maskína figures were released at the top of Vísir’s panel program Pallborðið, where Prime Minister Kristrún Frostadóttir appeared alongside Guðrún Hafsteinsdóttir, chair of the Independence Party, Jónas Hagan Guðmundsson, a co-founder of the pro-negotiation campaign Já til að sjá, and Hilmar Veigar Pétursson, chief executive of Fenris Creations.
