People who have little contact with those from outside their own neighbourhoods are overwhelmingly more likely to have voted for Brexit, according to the first in-depth study of the social attitudes that drove the vote to leave the EU.

Research, conducted by thinktank Demos indicates how the size of a person’s social network and their propensity to travel beyond their hometown, had a much greater influence on the decision individual voters took on 23 June than other factors such as income.

People who had socialised with friends from a different part of Britain were 9% less likely to have voted for Brexit than those who had not, whatever their income.

Those who had spent time with a resident of another country were 15% less likely. However adults who still live in their childhood hometowns are 10% more likely to feel globalisation had had a negative impact on their lives.

The results provide the clearest indication yet of a widening social and cultural gulf between Britain’s metropolitan areas, which were predominantly pro-EU, and provincial communities that backed Brexit.

According to the findings, voters in culturally diverse urban areas who socialise widely – such as Lambeth, where 79% backed continued EU membership – are much more likely to have positive attitudes towards the EU, globalisation and diversity.

Less mobile voters from rural communities hit by fast-paced, large-scale immigration – such as Boston in Lincolnshire, which polled 76% for Brexit – are overwhelmingly likely to take a negative view. Overall, those living in rural areas were 13% more likely to have voted leave.

Other significant factors in determining which side voters took on 23 June include ethnicity, with white voters 22% more likely to have backed Brexit.

Voters hostile towards same-sex relationships and the rise in the number of women in the workplace were also consistently more likely to have voted leave. Voters who believe increased ethnic and religious diversity has benefited Britain were 29% more likely to have been pro-EU.

The report also provides a stark illustration of the political divides revealed by the UK’s vote to leave. It finds that while Britons overall preferred consensual political leadership by a margin of 54% to 23%, less geographically mobile people were 11% more likely to want a “strong” leader who carried out their principles without worrying what other people thought. Young people without a degree are the group most likely to support strong leaders.

YouGov surveyed 1661 adults between 23 and 24 August 2016, weighted to reflect a nationally representative sample.

