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New Poll, No Change, Polls Apart – Latest TNS BMRB Poll

7th November 2013

‘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 […]



Which Way Might the Don’t Knows Go? – Evidence from the Wings Poll

28th October 2013

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 […]


New Panelbase Poll – Different Commissioner, Same Result

27th October 2013

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 […]


ESRC Festival of Social Science Event: What Does Scotland Think About Independence?

24th October 2013

What do people in Scotland think about the issues surrounding the referendum on independence in September 2014?  Learn, debate and influence the analysis of up to date social science evidence at this one-day event run by the Applied Quantitative Methods Network (AQMeN), an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Research Centre. This event is part […]


Is Independence Really Less Popular than the SNP?

23rd October 2013

The forthcoming independence referendum now dominates the Scottish political scene. The airwaves are full of claim and counterclaim about what leaving or staying in the UK might mean. As a result everyday party politics is very much taking a back seat.  But Thursday’s Dunfermline by-election for the seats vacated by the jailed former SNP MSP, […]


Two Different Countries? Scottish and English Attitudes to Equality and Europe

18th October 2013

There has perhaps been no clearer indication of the fragility of the Union. This weekend the SNP are gathered in Perth laying out the case for Scottish independence, while in London the IPPR think tank are holding a Festival of Englishness. The two countries would seem intent on going their separate ways. Indeed, part of […]


TNS BMRB October Poll Shows Little Change (Again)

11th October 2013

At first glance it would seem that there is little of interest in the latest TNS-BMRB poll of referendum vote intentions released today.   It looks like yet another poll that shows how difficult it is proving to be for either side to change the balance of opinion. But once we take a closer look, the […]


New interactive feature for exploring the Scottish Social Attitudes survey

8th October 2013

We are pleased to announce the release today of a major new feature on the What Scotland Thinks website. Regular users will be aware that since its initial launch in June the site has provided access to a comprehensive collection of data from polls and surveys on people’s attitudes towards Scotland’s constitutional future.  Since then […]


Who do we really think we are? On national identity and the census

27th September 2013

The publication yesterday of the second tranche of results from the 2011 Census in Scotland caused a certain amount of excitement.  What caught many an eye was the finding that no less than 62% said that they were Scottish and nothing else, while only just over a quarter acknowledged being British, either alone (8%) or […]


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