Hey look, we also need to note here that the referendum was boycotted in Armenia, Estonia, and Georgia (except in Georgia's breakaway province), Latvia, Lithuania, and Moldova. They held separate referendums where there was around 75 to 80 percent support for independence. There were no votes cast in those republics in the soviet referendum. Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and the Central Asian republics absolutely did not want to leave the USSR (or at least leave a state of federation) though and only did in the aftermath of the coup. Those vote ranges were from 72 to 98 percent. Russia and Ukraine had the lowest support while the central asian republics had the highest. Also, the wording of the referendum is also not really about keeping the USSR but a new federation, regardless the USSR as it existed was going away either way.
Hey look, we also need to note here that the referendum was boycotted in Armenia, Estonia, and Georgia (except in Georgia's breakaway province), Latvia, Lithuania, and Moldova. They held separate referendums where there was around 75 to 80 percent support for independence. There were no votes cast in those republics in the soviet referendum. Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and the Central Asian republics absolutely did not want to leave the USSR (or at least leave a state of federation) though and only did in the aftermath of the coup. Those vote ranges were from 72 to 98 percent. Russia and Ukraine had the lowest support while the central asian republics had the highest. Also, the wording of the referendum is also not really about keeping the USSR but a new federation, regardless the USSR as it existed was going away either way.