Labour still has a significant lead over the Tories in key marginal seats despite the virtual dead heat nationwide, according to a poll.
The ComRes/ITV News survey put Ed Miliband's party ahead by 40per cent to 31per cent in 40 swing seats where they are expected to be head-to-head with the Conservatives.
Labour's advantage has increased by a point since November, in contrast to UK-wide polls that have generally shown the gap narrowing.
The Tories do not appear to have benefited from a three point fall in Ukip's vote share in marginals, to 15per cent.
The Liberal Democrats and the Greens were each up one on 8per cent and 5per cent respectively.
Although David Cameron is regarded as more competent and statesmanlike than Mr Miliband, only 12per cent say they will decide how to vote based on who would make the best prime minister.
The Conservatives are most trusted to steward the economy, by 35per cent to 23per cent, while Labour leads on the NHS by 38per cent to 20per cent.
Tom Mludzinski, head of political polling at ComRes, said: "While national polls suggest the race is neck-and-neck, this look at the key battleground seats reveals Labour are enjoying a healthier lead in important areas.
"More than ever before, this election is about winning these important battles and Labour's lead in the marginals will bring comfort where national polling has given them some cause for concern."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article