Voters are estranged from politicians as the Brexit vote nears – and that's good news for everyone

The gap between those who know how they will vote in the EU referendum and the undecided is getting wider, but floating voters won't rely on MPs and the media to make up their mind for them

A Britain Stronger In Europe campaign poster adorns a lamp post in York (Getty)

There is a huge divide opening in the EU referendum debate between those who already know how they will vote on 23 June, and everybody else.

Two events I attended last week illustrate the situation. The first was a debate between Paddy Ashdown and Jacob Ree-Mogg in Martock, a large village in rural South Somerset. No surprise that it was attended by a largely self-selecting audience – the majority of whom, a show of hands revealed, had made their minds up before the debate had even started.

The second, however, was a street campaign mounted by Stronger In activists in Yeovil. And by contrast, the majority of people who approached the In crowd’s street stall in the town centre were lacking certainty, keen to get hold of any information that might help them to decide which way to vote. Given that you’re meeting a random selection of the population, across ages and socioeconomic groups, a street stall such as this is much more representative of the general public and the way they feel as the referendum approaches. So what does this tell us?

The difference in public response to these two events can be traced back, I think, to a failure of the mainstream media to engage the British public over Brexit. There are those who have firm views on Britain's role in Europe. But for everyone else the endless trading of slogans, statistics and insults between the two sides is a total turn off. The people simply want to know how they, their children and their friends and relatives would be affected by Brexit so they can make an informed decision.

A combination of a decreasing trust in politicians and public figures coupled with a partisan media has left many voters bewildered and unsure where to turn to find answers.

On Saturday, at the street stall, the most popular materials by far were booklets produced by the European Commission two years ago explaining, in simple terms, what our membership of the European Union means for small business, students, holidaymakers and the environment.

One woman said she would take the leaflets and distribute them at her workplace “because there is so much misinformation going around”. Another said she would use them to talk about politics with her daughter. The way people vote in this referendum will not be swayed by what politicians say - most people who are unsure how to vote won’t come into contact with a single elected representative during the campaign - but by the conversations taking place in their own homes and offices.

There is a positive element to this. Because people are taking an active role in informing themselves about the EU and its role, they may also begin to think more deeply about their own political choices on other issues too. Some people I spoke at the street stall asked me if the leaflets I was distributing for the Stronger In campaign were taxpayer funded. I explained that they were not. Another woman was angry because she had received a leaflet from the Leave campaign which hadn’t identified it as such.

Voters are no longer willing to be led by what politicians say. They want to fact-check information for themselves, rather rely on third parties to tell them what to think. It is a duty of both sides in the debate to help facilitate this process.