{"id":17291,"date":"2021-11-16T12:00:25","date_gmt":"2021-11-16T12:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/?p=17291"},"modified":"2022-04-05T12:41:17","modified_gmt":"2022-04-05T12:41:17","slug":"are-75-of-non-voters-in-northern-ireland-pro-union","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/topics\/elections\/are-75-of-non-voters-in-northern-ireland-pro-union\/","title":{"rendered":"Are 75% of non-voters in Northern Ireland pro-Union?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
This claim is accurate with consideration. <\/b>The claim that three-quarters of non-voters in Northern Ireland are pro-Union is based on evidence from a research survey commissioned on behalf of the University of Liverpool. It found that 76.9% of respondents who did not vote in the 2019 General election and who stated a constitutional preference chose \u201cto remain part of the UK\u201d.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n However, only 31.1% of those non-voters expressed a preference about whether NI should remain part of the UK or reunify with the rest of Ireland. The remaining 68.9% of respondents who were non voters either had no preference or kept it to themselves.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n UPDATE: This article was updated on 16 November 2021 (without changing the conclusion) and again on 5 April 2022 (reclassifying the claim from ACCURATE to ACCURATE WITH CONSIDERATION). Further details at the bottom of the article.<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n During an episode of BBC Northern Ireland\u2019s Spotlight programme, Professor Peter Shirlow claimed (at 24:55<\/a>): \u201cThree-quarters of people who don\u2019t vote in Northern Ireland are pro-Union.\u201d This claim was made in the context of a discussion on the new leaders of two Unionist parties, the Democratic Unionist Party and the Ulster Unionist Party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n How do we know the views of non-voters?<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n Shirlow confirmed with FactCheckNI that this figure came from a Northern Ireland General Election Survey (2019)<\/a> that was commissioned by Professor Jon Tonge of the University of Liverpool (UL), at which Shirlow<\/a> is the director of the Institute of Irish Studies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The survey, conducted by Social Market Research (SMR), is based on a representative sample of electors aged 18 and over in Northern Ireland. In total, 2,003 electors were interviewed, spanning all 18 parliamentary constituencies in Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The figure relevant to this claim is found in a table<\/a> in the survey report: \u201cTo Remain in UK or to reunify with Ireland by Voters and Non-Voters who state a preference\u201d. The table states that almost a third (31.1%) of all respondents who are non-voters gave a preference to one of the two constitutional choices. Of these non-voters in the survey, 76.9% chose the response, \u201cTo remain part of the UK\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n