A NEW poll has found support for independence shrinking despite the SNP insisting it is already the settled will of the Scottish people.
The latest YouGov survey found the lead for the Yes campaign among decided voters had narrowed since August from six points to two.
Four months ago, the pollster found 53 per cent of Scots would back leaving the UK in a referendum, compared to 47% who would vote to stay, excluding don't knows.
The figures are now 51% for Yes and 49% for No.
The raw numbers are 43% Yes, 42% No, 10% don't know, 3% would not vote, and 2% refused to say.
The August lead had been the largest recorded by YouGov for independence.
However the new YouGov survey of 1,089 Scots showed the SNP was still “on course for a comfortable majority” in next May’s Holyrood election, exceeding its win of 2011.
The new poll is the 13th in a row to show majority support for independence.
In response to recent polls, SNP Depute leader Keith Brown had repeatedly described the shift to independence as “the settled will of the Scottish people”.
The gung-ho appraisal was despite other senior Nationalists urging caution.
Last month, Andrew Wilson, who authored the SNP’s pre-Covid economic plan for independence, said it would be “a mistake to say we’re there yet”.
He told the Herald on Sunday: “It’s important not to rush the fence.”
Asked how they would vote if the election was tomorrow, 56% of people said they would back the SNP in the constituency vote, with the Tories on 19%, Labour on 15%, the Liberal Democrats on 6% and the Greens on 2%.
On the regional list, the SNP hasd 47% support, the Tories 20%, Labour 13%, the Liberal Democrats 6% and the Greens 7%.
According to the Electoral Polling calculator, the numbers would translate into a 19 seat majority for the SNP, with the party winning 74 seats, five more than in its 2011 landslide, and 11 more than in 2016.
The Tories would be second with 24 seats (down seven on 2016), Labour third on 17 (-7), and the Greens getting 9 (+3) and overtaking the Liberal Democrats on 5 (n/c).
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 hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel