9th December 2013 Comment
The Scottish independence referendum
There is some moderately encouraging news for the Yes side in the latest Ipsos MORI poll of referendum voting intentions for STV, released this evening. In what is only the second poll to be conducted since the unveiling of the Independence White Paper, support for Yes amongst those who are certain to vote is put […]
6th December 2013 Comment
Cross border attitudes Expectations of constitutional change
One of the key characteristics of the Scottish Government’s vision for an independent Scotland, as laid out in last week’s White Paper, is that there should be many areas of continuing collaboration and sharing between an independent Scotland and the rest of the UK (RUK). The most controversial such proposal is that Scotland should continue […]
5th December 2013 Comment
The Scottish independence referendum
The latest TNS BMRB monthly poll of referendum voting intentions is published today. However, it was conducted between 20th and 27th November, largely before the publication of the White Paper on the 26th November. The poll thus does not take us any further forward in ascertaining whether the launch of the White Paper has had […]
1st December 2013 Comment
The Scottish independence referendum
There will doubtless be considerable disappointment in the Yes camp at the findings, published today, of the first poll to be conducted since the launch of the independence White Paper on Tuesday. Conducted online between Wednesday and Friday of last week by Progressive Scottish Opinion for the Mail on Sunday, the poll puts the Yes […]
27th November 2013 Comment
Cross border attitudes
Yesterday Alex Salmond was doing his best to persuade Scots to vote Yes in the referendum. Today we get the result of the first poll – conducted by YouGov for The Sun – to ask people in England and Wales how they would vote in response to the referendum question, ‘Should Scotland be an independent […]
25th November 2013 Comment
The Scottish independence referendum
The publication this week of the Scottish Government’s White Paper on Independence is arguably the most important development in the referendum campaign so far. It is intended to answer the public’s questions about what independence would entail – and to persuade them of the merits of a Yes vote. But how big a task does […]
24th November 2013 Comment
The Scottish independence referendum
In what is likely to be the last poll before Tuesday’s independence White Paper, Panelbase (for The Sunday Times and Real Radio) once again present a more optimistic picture for the Yes side than any other pollster. However like everyone else, they also find that the balance of public opinion remains resistant to all attempts […]
7th November 2013 Comment
The Scottish independence referendum
‘New poll, no change, polls apart’ has so far been the dominant theme of polls on the independence referendum. Today’s TNS BMRB poll illustrates it perfectly. According to this latest measure, 25% say they will vote Yes next year, 43% No, while as many as 32% say they do not know. The Yes figure is […]
28th October 2013 Comment
Elections, parties & leaders The Scottish independence referendum
Full results from the Wings over Scotland/Panelbase poll are now available. (See our post of yesterday for a commentary on the initial results.) In terms of the number of questions asked at least, it is one of the largest commercial public opinion polls to have been conducted in Scotland in recent years. It is doubtful […]
27th October 2013 Comment
The Scottish independence referendum
The results of a second (and voluminous) Wings Over Scotland poll are gradually appearing on the Wings website during the course of today. For now we will confine our comment to the results of two questions that were published in advance in this morning’s Sunday Herald. A fuller blog will appear tomorrow, by which time […]