Young People Are Far More Likely To Think The Dress Is White And Gold

    Polling by YouGov for BuzzFeed News reveals the deep generational split over The Dress.

    Jim Waterson
    by Jim Waterson

    BuzzFeed News Reporter, UK

    This is the dress that has been causing strife across the land over the last 24 hours, ruining relationships and starting debates at every level of society. But is it white and gold or blue and black?

    BuzzFeed News undertook a survey of 996 Britons with pollster YouGov. The research was carried out on Friday.

    The results are shocking.

    The overwhelming majority of Britons in the YouGov/BuzzFeed poll believe the dress is blue and black.

    YouGov/BuzzFeed

    At first glance this result seems pretty straightforward. Case closed: Seventy-four per cent of Britons think it's blue and black. What else is there to learn from this?

    But YouGov's data allows us to sift through the results to spot patterns – and that's where the truly astonishing detail comes out.

    There is a massive age gap: The older you are, the more likely you are to think it's blue and black.

    BuzzFeed/YouGov

    In the 18–24 age group it's a relatively close contest between white/gold and blue/black. But look at the 60+ age group and it's a complete walkover: Almost no old people think the dress is white and gold.

    What's going on? Do our brains err towards the blue with age?

    What's more, people who wear glasses or contact lenses are more likely to see black and blue.

    Seventy-seven per cent of contact lens wearers see black and blue, but just 68% of people who don't wear glasses or contacts see that combination.

    There's even a subtle political divide.

    It's not much but 80% of Labour voters believe the dress is blue and black, while just 73% of UKIP voters agree.

    Yet when BuzzFeed News showed Labour leader Ed Miliband the dress, he insisted it was white and gold, before declaring that the doctrine of collective cabinet responsibility meant this is now the official Labour party line on the matter.

    This puts the Labour leader at odds with 80% of his supporters on a crucial election issue.

    The poll was carried out using YouGov's online polling panel.