The Challenge Facing The New Scottish Labour Leader

12th August 2015 Comment Elections, parties & leaders How Scotland should be governed Policy issues The Scottish independence referendum

Labour’s new Scottish leader is due to be unveiled on Saturday, an announcement that will in effect signal that the holiday season is coming to an end and normal political hostilities will soon begin once more. The announcement will, of course, be made against the backdrop of a divisive UK leadership contest in which the […]


Survation on the Opportunities and Challenges of 2016

14th July 2015 Comment Elections, parties & leaders

Just when it looked as though we might be having a quiet, poll free summer before the next round of electoral politics begins in earnest, the Scottish Daily Mail has opted to run a poll from Survation. It covers how people might vote in the Holyrood election next year and in the EU referendum whenever […]


And So Our Eyes Turn To May 2016

9th June 2015 Comment Elections, parties & leaders

There is little rest in the world of politics.  Today sees the publication of the first poll of voting intentions for next May’s Holyrood election since the UK general election on May 7th.  During the UK election such readings were largely ignored, but now that that ballot is behind us, the battle for power at […]


How Accurate were the General Election Polls in Scotland?

11th May 2015 Comment Elections, parties & leaders

The unanticipated success of the Conservatives in winning a narrow overall majority in the UK general election has raised questions about the performance of the polls, and the British Polling Council (BPC) has announced that an independent inquiry will be conducted into what happened.  On average the GB-wide polls pointed to a dead heat between […]


Final Polls Still Show SNP Well Ahead

7th May 2015 Comment Elections, parties & leaders

The final two polls of voting intentions in Scotland for the general election were released late last night. The first was by Survation for the Daily Record, the second by YouGov for The Times and The Sun. The YouGov poll was in fact a boosted Scottish sub-sample of a much larger Britain-wide poll, but as […]


Poll of Polls: Westminster Vote Intentions: 6 May FINAL

7th May 2015 Comment Elections, parties & leaders

The graph below shows the latest What Scotland Thinks/ScotCen Poll of Polls of voting intentions in Scotland for the 2015 UK general election and how it has evolved over time. The latest and final Poll of Polls is based on two polls by YouGov,  one poll by Panelbase, and one poll by Survation.  Between them the […]


Panelbase Hold SNP Vote Steady

6th May 2015 Comment Elections, parties & leaders

Earlier today Panelbase released the results of their final poll of voting intentions in Scotland for tomorrow’s UK general election. Like the YouGov poll at the weekend, it suggests that very little has changed in the latter stages of the campaign. The poll puts the SNP on 48%, unchanged from the company’s previous poll conducted […]


Poll of Polls: Westminster Vote Intentions: 6 May

6th May 2015 Comment Elections, parties & leaders

The graph below shows the latest What Scotland Thinks/ScotCen Poll of Polls of voting intentions in Scotland for the 2015 UK general election and how it has evolved over time. The latest Poll of Polls is based on one poll by Survation, one poll by YouGov,  one poll by Panelbase, and one by Ipsos MORI […]


YouGov: SNP Surge Holds Steady

3rd May 2015 Comment Elections, parties & leaders

Today’s Sunday Times (in Scotland) contains a full sized poll of voting intentions in Scotland alongside the paper’s regular Britain-wide poll from YouGov. It tells almost exactly the same story as YouGov’s two previous polls for The Times conducted in early and mid-April. The SNP are credited with 49% of the vote, unchanged from both […]