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Over 1.6m People Ceased New Relationships Due To Brexit, Says New eHarmony Data

New research claims that 1.6m people ended relationships or stopped seeing someone new due to disagreements over last year’s Brexit vote.

This is according to new research and site data analysis by eHarmony, who wanted to study the impact of politics on romance as the anniversary of Brexit approaches.

Conducted by ICM in March 2017, the dating site found that 3.4% of people said Brexit was a key factor in them deciding to stop seeing someone.

This was even stronger for 18 to 24-year-olds, eHarmony found, with 10% saying they had broken up with someone or decided not to date someone because of their views on the EU vote.

Furthermore, 16% said the referendum put a strain on personal relationships with family, friends or colleagues, while 6% argued with their family about it, and 2% completely cut off a relative.

Beyond just Brexit, opposing political viewpoints led to nearly 2.7m (6%) people ending relationships in the UK last year, including those in the initial stages of dating.

Interestingly, however, eHarmony’s data showed that members of the dating site who mentioned Brexit in their profile, whether pro or against, were more likely to receive messages than the average user – women seeing an 84% bump, and men seeing a 90% spike.

Speaking about the study, Romain Bertrand, the UK Country Manager for eHarmony, said: “While eHarmony has no political allegiances whatsoever, we do keenly observe social trends across the board. The EU referendum was a defining political moment and coverage was inescapable.

“This meant people were forced to confront issues they might otherwise have avoided regarding political perspectives –it’s unfortunate but not altogether surprising therefore that 1.6m UK relationships either ended or failed to progress beyond the initial dating stage due to the vote.

“Similarly, the country is now facing up to a somewhat unexpected election result and while research indicates that – theoretically at least – politics are not a desirable date topic, in practice we know that eHarmony members often end up exchanging lively views about their political allegiances.”

Simon Edmunds

Simon is the former editor of Global Dating Insights. Born in Newcastle, he has an English degree from Queen Mary, London and after working for the NHS, trained as a journalist with the Press Association. Passionate about music, journalism and Newcastle United.

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