Americans are unaware, unconcerned about Brexit: Survey

Click onto any news site or social media platform and you're likely to be deluged by opinions of #Remain or #Leave. That's true even in the United States, where the effects of a British exit (Brexit) from the European Union remain far from clear.

But it turns out Americans don't care much what their neighbors across the pond do on Thursday, and they're not terribly concerned about the ramifications for their own economy. Nearly three-quarters of Americans say they aren't even aware of the upcoming Brexit vote. Of those who are, 41 percent said they didn't know if it would be a good or bad thing for the U.S.

That's according to a new survey out from Fluent, a marketing and advertising firm. Fluent sells its services to many political campaigns, including a number of 2016 presidential candidates. Fluent surveyed some 1,500 Americans to get the results.

So despite that the United Kingdom is one of America's closest allies, and a vote to leave could hurt U.S. companies with exposure to the U.K., nearly half of Americans who know about the vote can't say if they support it or not. And 40 percent don't know if it's good for their country or not.

American news feeds have been full of other topics, according to Jordan Cohen, CMO of Fluent.

"The low number of respondents answering that they have heard of Brexit ... is not surprising, especially as the Brexit story has been unfolding in the midst of ongoing, dominating coverage of the recent massacre in Orlando," he said. "My sense is that Brexit is registering higher on the radars of investors — it's more of a Wall Street story than a Main Street one in America."

Among U.S. political groups, Republicans were more likely than both Democrats and independents to have an opinion on the vote. More than 40 percent expressed a viewpoint, compared with 27 percent of Democrats. Just over a quarter of Republicans said they opposed Britain leaving the EU. That's interesting, because presumptive Republican nominee, Donald Trump, announced his support for the leave campaign on Sunday, according to Reuters.

Overall, Americans who were aware of the upcoming Brexit vote were split in their support: 26 percent said they backed the leave campaign, while 30 percent said they opposed it. That means that just under half of Americans who had actually heard of the vote didn't know which side they supported.

Slightly more — around 34 percent — thought that Britain leaving the EU would be bad for the U.S.

As of Tuesday afternoon, Brexit was not trending in Google News' "Top Stories" for the U.S., but British Prime Minister David Cameron was on the list for his "Brits don't quit" comments in a television address to the nation. Soccer star David Beckham too was trending, for announcing his support for the remain campaign.