Those are crushing numbers. 90% of 43% of voters who made a choice to vote and leave. Such overwhelming numbers. Do you think the other side would have gotten everyone who didn't vote?
Not everyone, but a majority. Going to vote was strongly correlated with being for independence: it was clear the referendum wasn't legally binding and wasn't approved by the Spanish government. People who didn't want independence didn't even bother to vote in that.
And it's not an hypothesis: polls and parliament votes have shown for years that the support for independence (or for independentist parties) has been fairly stable at around 45-50%. Support for a referendum vote has been wider (up to 70-80% depending on the poll and how you count some party's positions) but similarly fairly stable over the years.
> for a referendum that everyone knew would not actually matter.
Surely if people thought the referendum "didn't matter", then they'd be less, not more likely to cast a ballot? I'd say that 40% is a pretty strong vote, in those circumstances (and given the risk of being beaten up by riot police).
Not, because here lies the trap. This was a farce, not a real election.
It was practically guaranteed that the votes would be replaced later in the cardboard urns guarded exclusively by the separatists. The obvious plan was to drag as many millions of people as possible to vote and then use this number as new upper limit to made up a separatist support number (see? 80% of this new cipher voted separatist, we counted the votes ourselves, [invented a number], and this is two million more of supporters than before, so I'm right. Now lets negotiate how money you own me to not secede).
It must be noticed that they printed 10 millions of ballots, for a pool of voters much lower. Why they needed to have like two ballots for each possible vote?... well, fill the dots.
The only good move in that situation is avoid voting
It wasn't a valid referendum. It was illegal, and everyone knew that it was against the Spanish constitution. 90% of 40% in what amounts to an opinion poll is not "nothing" - it's a remarkable turnout, given that voters knew the Spanish government had sent in shiploads of non-Catalan riot police to suppress voting.
Can't tell if this comment is tongue in cheek. 40% is crushing and overwhelming? Like, maybe next time all those other supposed hidden supporters of independence can be arsed to get off their butts and show up to the most important vote of their life (at least if it was binding or legal according to Spanish law).
And it's not an hypothesis: polls and parliament votes have shown for years that the support for independence (or for independentist parties) has been fairly stable at around 45-50%. Support for a referendum vote has been wider (up to 70-80% depending on the poll and how you count some party's positions) but similarly fairly stable over the years.