THE SNP are on track to secure a majority at the upcoming Scottish Parliament election, according to the latest research from Opinium.
The polling firm puts the SNP’s constituency support at 51% and regional support at 41%, pointing towards 67 seats in total.
Opinium’s research picked up a two-point increase in support for the Tories on the regional vote and no change for Labour on 17%.
It is one of the most optimistic polls in terms of the projected Tory losses, suggesting the party will only be down two seats on its 2016 result with 29 MSPs. Meanwhile Labour would be on 20 MSPs, a decrease of three.
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The pollsters are also less optimistic about Scottish Green support compared to other surveys, predicting they will return eight MSPs – up three on their current number.
Alex Salmond’s Alba Party was not predicted to return any MSPs with 3%, while the LibDems would see no change with five seats.
Opinium found Nicola Sturgeon continues to be the most popular leader with a net approval of +17, though this is down five points on the company’s April results.
Scottish Labour’s Sarwar saw his favourability rise by three points while Ross’s was up by five points.
The firm also asked voters which outcome would be best – the only situation respondents felt would be more good than bad for Scotland would be an SNP majority, with 46% approving this versus 41% disapproving. Some 37% felt an SNP/Green majority would be good, while 45% said it would not.
Nearly 15% felt an SNP/Alba coalition would be good, while 17% felt an SNP/Alba/Green coalition would be positive.
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Independence support reflected recent trends, with a split 50/50 for leaving the Union and staying in the UK.
About 28% (-5%) of people feel a referendum should be held in the next two years while 14% (-2%) feel it should happen in the next two-five years.
Chris Curtis, senior research manager at Opinium, described the result as showing “razor thin margins” will determine whether the SNP will secure a majority.
He also argued the results show a decrease in support for holding a new independence referendum.
“Regardless, Sturgeon will argue that a good result this week gives her the mandate to put the question back to the Scottish people, demonstrating just how important this week’s vote will be for the future of the Union,” he added.
The online survey polled 1015 Scottish adults aged 16+ from April 28-May 3.
Commenting on the poll, SNP depute leader Keith Brown said: “If you want the experienced leadership of Nicola Sturgeon to get us through the pandemic and into recovery, then it has to be both votes SNP on Thursday.
“Every vote counts in this election. The outcome is on a knife-edge and Labour and the Tories are teaming up to try and stop Scotland making progress.
“Anything less than both votes for the SNP risks leaving Scotland’s future in the hands of Boris Johnson and the Tories instead of the safe hands of Nicola Sturgeon.”
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