SOME 53% of Scots now support independence, according to a new poll from YouGov.
The survey, carried out for The Times, put Yes in the lead with don’t knows removed after two Panelbase polls showing Scottish independence support at 54% earlier this summer. It was an increase of two percentage points for Yes since YouGov last asked the question in April.
Pro-independence politicians have welcomed the new survey. Pete Wishart, the SNP’s longest serving MP, tweeted: “Not just sustained majority support but the settled will of the people of Scotland.”
Not just sustained majority support but the settled will of the people of Scotland. https://t.co/f9Fp2vtdu2
— Pete Wishart (@PeteWishart) August 11, 2020
The party’s depute leader Keith Brown wrote: “SNP on 57%, projected to win 74 seats. FM on =50 approval, PM on -50. 53% support for indy (up 2%). Need to keep out eyes on the prize and take nothing for granted.”
The poll also found that 57% of voters in Scotland plan to back the SNP at next year’s Scottish independence, an increase of three percentage points from YouGov’s previous Holyrood voting intentions carried out in April.
Polling expert John Curtice said the 57% SNP support would translate into the party winning 74 seats next year, an increase of 11 MSPs.
The only other majority government returned at Holyrood was in 2011, when the SNP won 69 seats under Alex Salmond.
The YouGov poll also found First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has enjoyed a boost to her net approval rating, increasing by five points to 50 since this time last year. At the same time it reported that Boris Johnson’s rating has fallen by 16 points to minus 50.
Curtice said that while the Tory Government has been “stirred into action” by recent polls on independence – five ministers have travelled to Scotland in recent weeks - the new figures won’t be welcome news.
He said: "UK ministers are making frequent forays north while the party's Scottish leader, Jackson Carlaw, has made way for a successor who, it is hoped, will be better able to reverse the nationalist tide.
"Yet this frenetic activity hides a strategic dilemma for the Conservatives - they are unlikely to be able to save the Union on their own.
"They will need the help from Labour - but Sir Keir Starmer's party currently looks like the weak link in the unionist chain.''
Polling was carried out among 1142 Scottish adults of voting age this week.
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