YES Scotland and Better Together have revealed fresh plans to target women and younger voters after a new poll suggested they could hold the key to victory in the independence referendum.
The rival camps said they were planning specific campaigns aimed at groups with high levels of undecided voters.
The latest poll, by Angus Reid, showed 26% of women and 31% of 18 to 34-year-olds have yet to make up their minds. Headline figures from the survey put support for independence at 32% with 47% opposed, 20% unsure and 1% not planning to vote.
Responding to the findings, the pro-UK Better Together said it was to recruit 50 youth reps to get its message across to younger voters. It will also launch a specific campaign aimed at women. A female figurehead could be appointed to lead the drive. At present it has no equivalent of the Women for Independence group within the Yes Scotland campaign.
A campaign insider said: "Young people can be the most difficult to reach often because the message is not coming from people in their age group so we want to change that.
"And we absolutely understand the importance of having a campaign speaking directly to women. More women are convinced of our arguments but there is a significant group who are undecided."
Yes Scotland is to launch a new campaign highlighting the role of women as carers and arguing they could expect greater support under independence. The pro-independence group is also heavily involved in Glasgow University's mock referendum later this month which could provide an early indication of young people's views. A new group, Glasgow University for Yes, launched a campus campaign yesterday using the slogan "Great things start with Yes".
Young Yes campaigners will also take their message to student unions and music festivals later this year.
A spokeswoman said: "We'll be running targeted campaigns aimed at the concerns of specific groups. We're confident that as we focus on the two choices, women will see a Yes vote as the guarantor of social justice and fairness."
The Angus Reid poll – the first to use the official referendum question "Should Scotland be an independent country? Yes/No" – found support for independence among women dropped to 26%.
On the key issue of the economy, it found women were much less likely to believe they would be financially better off under independence. Just one in 10 women thought they would be better off, compared with 19% of men.
Women were almost twice as likely as men to be undecided.
The 31% of undecided young voters compared with just 12% of over-55s.
The poll also showed 26% of working class voters (C2DEs) were undecided, compared with 15% of middle class voters (ABC1s).
However the wide gulf between Yes and No voters, also reflected in other recent polls, prompted warnings that Yes Scotland could not rely on persuading don't-knows.
Polling expert John Curtice, of Strathclyde University, said: "Yes Scotland has to fight an effective campaign that moves all sections of society. They will not get above 50% by persuading the don't-knows alone. They need to convert people saying No into saying Yes."
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