Almost half of voters aged 18 to 24 cried or felt like crying when they heard that the UK had voted to leave the European Union, according to polls conducted for the London School of Economics.

The findings were released last night after tens of thousands of people demonstrated in central London against the results of the referendum.

The polling by Opinium, conducted as part of an LSE electoral psychology initiative called “Inside the mind of the voter”, found that the electorate’s verdict on EU membership prompted a far more emotional reaction than the results of most other elections or referendums.

Overall, out of a sample of 2,113 British adults questioned between 24 and 30 June, 32% of respondents said they cried or felt like crying when they discovered the result.

However, the proportion went up to 47% among voters aged 18-24. Among all Remain supporters the figure was 55%. Some 11% of all Leave supporters said they cried or felt like crying after the result was announced, presumably out of delight at the outcome.

Michael Bruter, professor of political science and European politics at the LSE, and his colleague, Dr Sarah Harrison, said the referendum stimulated feelings, particularly among young people, of “sadness but also ones of anger and frustration at people who voted to leave, and often at older generations”.

When asked how they felt towards people who voted the opposite way to them, 67% of young people aged 18-39 said that they felt angry, 72% frustrated and 61%“disgusted”.

The strength of young people’s negative feelings was particularly strong in relation to the loss of their rights as EU citizens: 78% said they would miss the right to live anywhere in the EU as well as the sense of being part of a European community.

The automatic right to work or study abroad would be missed by 77% of young people, 72% would miss having an EU passport and 55% would miss EU symbols such as the EU flag. Some 10% said they were more likely to relocate abroad as a result of Brexit.

Bruter and Harrison said they found turnout among young people to be far higher than data has so far suggested. “Young people cared and voted in very large numbers. We found turnout was very close to the national average, and much higher than in general and local elections.

“After correcting for over-reporting [people always say they vote more than they do], we found that the likely turnout of 18- to 24-year-olds was 70% – just 2.5% below the national average – and 67% for 25- to 29-year-olds.

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Opinium also found that, on average, British voters now believe that the typical UK household will be £264 worse off every year over the next five years.

More than 46.5 million people were registered to vote in the referendum on 23 June, which resulted in the UK voting by 51.9% to 49.1% to withdraw from the EU. More than 70% of people aged 18 to 24 voted to remain in the EU, while among those over 60 there was a large majority in favour of leaving.

• This article was amended on 5 July 2016. An earlier version said that more than 46.5 million people voted in the referendum. This was the number of those registered.

