Framing the vote for Brexit - The Leave campaign and the EU-referendum

Abstract: On the 23rd of June the British electorate chose to vote in favour of leaving the EU. The fact that one of the prominent states will leave the EU project is in itself controversial. This thesis examines the Leave campaign through a framing analysis. A qualitative method is used in order to identify the frames within publications made by the campaign, during April-June of 2016. The content of the frames corresponds to Eurosceptic arguments used in previous EU-referendums. The study also elaborates briefly on how these frames interacted with tendencies in the public, through a discussion of the strength of the frames. The Leave campaign successfully connected the question of EU membership to national issues such as immigration, economics and public services. This thesis provides findings that can be used in a more comprehensive framing analysis in order to establish framing effects and to a deeper understanding of how the communication of the political elite mobilized voters in the EU-referendum.