As Prime Minister Theresa May battles to save her Brexit plans from failure, one question remains for Americans: what the hell is happening on the other side of the pond?

New exclusive research published by The Independent over the weekend shows that, for the first time this year, a majority of British citizens support staying in the trading bloc, with 52 per cent of support to remain in the European Union. Those figures arrive as the prime minister struggles to garner support for her plans, delaying a Tuesday vote that could have derailed the process entirely.

Just two years ago, the country was much more in favour of withdrawing — and Americans appeared to support the breakup as well. Up to 80 per cent of US citizens supported the departure on the night of the Brexit referendum in the summer 2016, according to data also published by The Independent.

However, now that the complexities of Brexit are becoming a reality for those who voted to leave the EU, it seems as if hearts and minds could be changing on the issue across the globe.

We recently asked a dozen New Yorkers for their thoughts on Brexit to gain a better understanding of whether Americans were still tuning in to the latest developments out of Britain.

Despite the near-daily controversies arising out of the White House soaking up much of the domestic news cycle since Donald Trump’s 2016 upset victory, the people we spoke to appeared up to speed on the latest general updates — and each person had an opinion on whose side they were on.

Several people pointed to the apparent similarities between Brexit and the election of Mr Trump, with one woman suggesting it’s a sign “the divide is just getting bigger and bigger.”

“People need to get along and figure out how to negotiate with each other even though their differences are so wide,” the woman, whose name is Maggie, told The Independent. “I just see as in England with Brexit her in America, the divide is just getting bigger and bigger.”

Others claimed the Brexit vote may have been an impulse decision for many, with British voters now facing “buyer’s remorse” according to another New Yorker.

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“I think it was an emotional decision … and I think that they kind of have buyer’s remorse,” the man, whose name is Jacob, said about the country’s first vote on Brexit. “I think there should be a second referendum. I don’t know if that’s possible, I don’t know if it’s legal, I don’t know, but I think they should give it time now that they’ve really had the time to educate the people.”

The majority of New Yorkers we spoke to said they supported a second referendum, with one father named Eric saying, “I’m sure at this point people are more informed than they were when they first voted.”

“I think that the British people should be given another opportunity to have a vote on the matter, a second referendum,” he said. “They probably just jumped on the bandwagon. You know, everyone is afraid of terrorists and people from other countries taking their jobs who might work for less pay, but I think those are easy trigger phrases in situations to get people to act in extreme ways.”

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Interestingly, the only person The Independent spoke to for this (albeit brief) temperature check on American attitudes towards Brexit was one German-native who happened to be vacationing in New York when a reporter was speaking with locals about the latest developments. That German resident was a financial consultant who told The Independent he was excited about the prospect of banks moving to Frankfurt, Germany.

“In my opinion, the second referendum will be that the UK people will say ‘Nope, we want to be in the EU because of all the consequences that are coming out of this.”