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Scotland poll puts Union on a knife edge | The Times
Scotland poll puts Union on a knife edge | The Times
Scotland poll puts Union on a knife edge
Alex Salmond and sport minister Shona Robison were out and about meeting football fans in Dundee
Scotland is within touching distance of independence, according to a poll for The Times which reveals that Alex Salmond’s campaign to leave the United Kingdom needs only three more points to claim victory.
With 16 days to go until millions of Scots vote in the referendum, a YouGov poll put support for independence at 47 per cent, against 53 per cent who say they want to remain part of the UK.
After months of stagnation, support for separation has risen by eight percentage points in a month.
A YouGov poll at the start of August put approval of the Yes campaign at 41 per cent. Two weeks later it had risen to 43 per cent, though the anti-independence vote stood at 57 per cent, a 14-point lead.
Now the lead has shrunk to six points, suggesting that the momentum is firmly with the nationalists.
Undecided voters are twice as likely to choose independence when they come to vote on September 18, according to YouGov, which also reports that some voters have switched sides in recent months.
There will be particular concern in Westminster about a change of heart among Labour voters. The proportion supporting independence has risen from 18 per cent to 30 per cent in a month.
This comes after Alistair Darling, head of the Better Together campaign and a former Labour chancellor, performed poorly in the second television debate with Mr Salmond, the first minister and leader of the Scottish National Party. Just over one in four believes that Mr Darling is the right man to lead the No campaign and a majority (52 per cent) think he was the wrong choice, up 16 points.
The pro-independence vote among Liberal Democrat voters has also risen, doubling to 24 per cent. This comes after SNP ministers made a concerted effort to attract the centre-left vote with pledges of greater public spending in an independent Scotland, and the opportunity to end Conservative governments.
The nationalists are also making significant headway with women, their other major target group, with 42 per cent supporting independence now compared with 37 per cent a month ago.
Mr Salmond also appears to be persuading people that they would be better off in an independent Scotland, with 35 per cent believing they would fare more favourably without the UK, compared with 25 per cent in the spring.
Peter Kellner, the president of YouGov, said that while he still expected the campaign against independence to win, a victory for Mr Salmond could not be ruled out.
“A close finish looks likely, and a Yes victory is now a real possibility. If No finally wins the day, it now looks less likely that it will win by a big enough margin to deliver a knock-out blow to supporters of independence,” he added. “If the final vote is anything like our current poll figures, I would not bet much against a second referendum being held within the next 10 to 15 years.”
The poll also suggests that the campaign for independence is running a more effective ground operation than its rivals. Almost three quarters of Scots said they had received leaflets or letters from the Yes campaign through the door, compared with 65 per cent who had received them from Better Together. Voters were twice as likely to have had Yes Scotland than Better Together representatives knock at their door — 8 per cent compared with 14 per cent.
More than a quarter of Scots said they had not been contacted by Better Together by phone, in person, online or through posters, leaflets or street stalls. The rate for Yes Scotland was 15 per cent.
Mr Kellner said that the overall rise in those intending to vote Yes was real, as YouGov had checked the responses of 500 Scots who they also questioned about independence earlier this year.
There has been a widespread belief since the start of the campaign that the polls would narrow as September 18 grew closer and the SNP’s formidable election machine swung into action. The nationalists were behind in the lead-up to the 2011 Scottish parliament election but pulled off a dramatic turnaround in the final weeks and secured a historic outright majority.
YouGov polled 1,063 adults in Scotland between August 28 and September 1.
Alex Salmond and sport minister Shona Robison were out and about meeting football fans in Dundee
Scotland is within touching distance of independence, according to a poll for The Times which reveals that Alex Salmond’s campaign to leave the United Kingdom needs only three more points to claim victory.
With 16 days to go until millions of Scots vote in the referendum, a YouGov poll put support for independence at 47 per cent, against 53 per cent who say they want to remain part of the UK.
After months of stagnation, support for separation has risen by eight percentage points in a month.
A YouGov poll at the start of August put approval of the Yes campaign at 41 per cent. Two weeks later it had risen to 43 per cent, though the anti-independence vote stood at 57 per cent, a 14-point lead.
Now the lead has shrunk to six points, suggesting that the momentum is firmly with the nationalists.
Undecided voters are twice as likely to choose independence when they come to vote on September 18, according to YouGov, which also reports that some voters have switched sides in recent months.
There will be particular concern in Westminster about a change of heart among Labour voters. The proportion supporting independence has risen from 18 per cent to 30 per cent in a month.
This comes after Alistair Darling, head of the Better Together campaign and a former Labour chancellor, performed poorly in the second television debate with Mr Salmond, the first minister and leader of the Scottish National Party. Just over one in four believes that Mr Darling is the right man to lead the No campaign and a majority (52 per cent) think he was the wrong choice, up 16 points.
The pro-independence vote among Liberal Democrat voters has also risen, doubling to 24 per cent. This comes after SNP ministers made a concerted effort to attract the centre-left vote with pledges of greater public spending in an independent Scotland, and the opportunity to end Conservative governments.
The nationalists are also making significant headway with women, their other major target group, with 42 per cent supporting independence now compared with 37 per cent a month ago.
Mr Salmond also appears to be persuading people that they would be better off in an independent Scotland, with 35 per cent believing they would fare more favourably without the UK, compared with 25 per cent in the spring.
Peter Kellner, the president of YouGov, said that while he still expected the campaign against independence to win, a victory for Mr Salmond could not be ruled out.
“A close finish looks likely, and a Yes victory is now a real possibility. If No finally wins the day, it now looks less likely that it will win by a big enough margin to deliver a knock-out blow to supporters of independence,” he added. “If the final vote is anything like our current poll figures, I would not bet much against a second referendum being held within the next 10 to 15 years.”
The poll also suggests that the campaign for independence is running a more effective ground operation than its rivals. Almost three quarters of Scots said they had received leaflets or letters from the Yes campaign through the door, compared with 65 per cent who had received them from Better Together. Voters were twice as likely to have had Yes Scotland than Better Together representatives knock at their door — 8 per cent compared with 14 per cent.
More than a quarter of Scots said they had not been contacted by Better Together by phone, in person, online or through posters, leaflets or street stalls. The rate for Yes Scotland was 15 per cent.
Mr Kellner said that the overall rise in those intending to vote Yes was real, as YouGov had checked the responses of 500 Scots who they also questioned about independence earlier this year.
There has been a widespread belief since the start of the campaign that the polls would narrow as September 18 grew closer and the SNP’s formidable election machine swung into action. The nationalists were behind in the lead-up to the 2011 Scottish parliament election but pulled off a dramatic turnaround in the final weeks and secured a historic outright majority.
YouGov polled 1,063 adults in Scotland between August 28 and September 1.
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