More than 40% of British voters have read inaccurate stories claiming Conservative MPs voted that animals "cannot feel pain or emotions", according to new polling by YouGov that provides further evidence of how political stories that exist almost entirely on social media are potentially influencing vast swaths of the population.
The research, conducted for BuzzFeed News, shows two-fifths of respondents said they were aware of the story, with most saying they'd read about it on social media.
The digital-only Independent and the websites of the London Evening Standard and Metro were the only established news outlets that covered the animal sentience story.
Their coverage – which was based on a misleading interpretation of what happened to an amendment tabled by Green MP Caroline Lucas for Brexit legislation to explicitly recognise the pain felt by animals – went mega-viral. One piece by the Independent is likely to be the single most viral UK political article of 2017, a year that featured a general election.
Tory MPs were told to vote against the motion on the basis that animal sentience was already covered by existing UK law.
The government strongly disputed the reporting of the story and blamed badly phrased viral headlines, but Downing Street and Conservative HQ were nevertheless forced to spend a week fighting back against, with mixed success.
By the end of the week, environment secretary Michael Gove was issuing written statements to parliament and declaring that Brexit would be good for animals.
.@michaelgove "I want to make sure Brexit delivers not just for the British people, but for animals too."
The extraordinary reach of the claims once again shows how the Conservatives are struggling to compete in online media and the extent to which their brand has been tarnished by concerns about fox-hunting and ivory bans.
YouGov asked respondents whether they remembered encountering any stories "about MPs voting on whether or not to include the statement 'that animals cannot feel pain or emotions' in the Brexit bill".
Awareness of the animal sentience story was substantially higher among voters from higher social classes in the south of England, Scotland, and London. More than half of voters in the capital – where the Conservatives struggled in the 2017 general election – said they were aware of it.
Women were more likely than men to be aware of the claim, which is worrying news for the Conservatives, who need to win back the support of female voters.
Lower-income voters, those in the Midlands and Wales, and people who voted Leave in the EU referendum were the least likely to have encountered the story.
YouGov also polled public awareness of the announcement of a new railcard for 26- to 30-year-olds – a key Budget announcement made in the same week the animal stories went viral.
The poll found that the railcard policy, which was covered widely across traditional news websites thanks to a major push by government press officers, reached 46% of voters aged 30 or under – those who will benefit from cheaper fares.
That's only marginally higher than the 40% of the voters in the same age bracket who said they read the disputed stories about animal sentience.
• YouGov contacted 1,669 adults, with the results weighted to be representative of all UK adults.