"Now is anyone really going to argue with me that fewer than two percent of the voting electorate were racist, xenophobic ignoramuses?"
A little more fundamental than that Steve
A survey carried aout a little over two years ago (published in The Daily Mail, of all places) suggested that between a half and on third of the British population held and had expressed racist views
That is not to say they were active racists, of course they aren't.
Active racism is growing, but it is still a tiny minority who are prepared to act on their prejudices
We (my generation certainly) were conditioned to dislike, distrust or denigrate foreigners we even SANG ABOUT IT IN OUR SCHOOL SERVICES uny=ti it was removed from the hymn books
It is this passive racism that the Brexiteers drew from

It happened here in Ireland recently when a Presidential candidate, PETER CASEY , drew on the Irish hatred and fear of Travellers and managed to push up his vote from nowhere to 22%, and Ireland hasn't got a real race problem
Both depressing an frightening to learn what lies just below the surface
Jim