SNP Dominate in Scottish Polls But Labour Is Improving

As the SNP meets for its annual conference in Aberdeen, new polling by YouGov for The Times demonstrates that Liz Truss’ headaches just get worse across Scotland.

The poll of over 1,000 adults in Scotland between the 30th September and 4th October shows that when it comes to voting intentions for the UK Parliament, the SNP remains the dominant force. It puts the party on 45%, just 1 point down from where it polled the last time YouGov carried out a survey like this in May.

Labour too will be cheered by news that it is has clearly overtaken the Conservatives as the second placed party in Scotland. It is now on 31%, up 9 points since May.

The Scottish Conservatives meanwhile are polling on 12%, down 7 points since May.

When it comes to people’s views on independence, when those who said they did not know how they would vote in a second referendum are excluded, 45% say they would vote to support Scotland becoming an independent country with 55% saying they would oppose it.

Ipsos Mori also shows the extent to which Nicola Sturgeon remains by far the most popular of the political leaders in Scotland. Its poll of voters in Scotland gives the First Minister a net satisfaction rating of +8, with the Scottish Labour Leader, Anas Sarwar on -1. Douglas Ross, Leader of the Scottish Conservative Party meanwhile has a net rating of -41.

When it comes to views on Westminster’s leaders among Scottish voters Liz Truss, according to Ipsos Mori, has a net satisfaction rating of -60, with the Labour Leader, Keir Starmer, on -1.

Delving deeper into the data, Ipsos Mori shows that 51% feel the Scottish Government has done a bad job of improving the NHS since the last elections to Holyrood in May 2021. This compares to 22% saying it has done a good job on this front.

The poll also finds that 46% believe the Scottish Government is doing a bad job of managing the economy, with 29% saying it is doing a good job. Similarly, more people felt the Scottish Government had done a bad job than a good job when it comes to improving living standards for people on low incomes, improving their own standard of living and improving the education system.

Interestingly however, Ipsos Mori notes that: “the public are more likely to say the Scottish Government is doing a good job at making Scots feel proud of their country (41%) than to say it is doing a bad job of this (33%).”

Overall, 70% said they feel Scotland’s society is divided these days, with 25% say it is not.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Buyers Regret Over Brexit?

This week marked five years since the UK voted to leave the European Union, a decision which has shaken British politics in a way that few would have foreseen. To mark the occasion, Savanta ComRes this week published polling suggesting that if the referendum were held today, remain would just win, with 51% of respondents saying they would vote to stay in the EU compared to 49% who would vote to leave. The poll shows that there would be little switching from either side, with 6% of those who voted remain in 2016 saying they would not vote to leave, and 7% of those who originally voted to leave saying they would now vote remain. Savanta ComRes go on to say: “That means the Remain edge in this poll comes from those who did not vote in 2016, with this group being more than twice as likely to vote for Remain (71%) than Leave (29%).” The poll found however that if the public were asked instead to choose between joining the EU or not, 51% would vote not to become a member, whilst 49% w...
Read more

Can Labour Look Forward to a Decade in Power?

Speaking at the start of the year the new Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, spoke of a "decade of national renewal" being the "central, defining purpose" of a future Labour government. Fast forward to today, and for those now in Government the question will be whether the election results can give Labour any confidence at the prospect of a decade in power. Some might conclude that it is absurd to be asking this question, given Labour’s 172 seat majority in the Commons. That is just 7 short of the majority New Labour secured in 1997 which ushered in 13 years of Labour rule. However, dig deeper, and the reality is that Labour’s victory is thin. According to the election results Labour won on Thursday having secured around 9.7 million votes, equivalent to 33.7% of the votes cast. To set that into context, according to House of Commons Library data , that compares to the 13.5 million votes (43.2% vote share) Labour got in 1997. What is more, the total number of ...
Read more

Rishi’s Ratings Sink

Rishi Sunak has registered his weakest favourability ratings since becoming Prime Minister according to new polling by Ipsos Mori. It reports that whilst the Labour Leader, Keir Starmer, has a net favourability score of -7, Rishi Sunak’s has sunk to -19. With Boris Johnson continuing to breathe down Rishi Sunak’s neck, Ipsos goes on to note: “More than half of 2019 Conservative voters are favourable to Johnson (55%) while 49% say the same for Sunak. Overall, among 2019 Conservative voters, Johnson scores +29 while Sunak scores +23.   However, Johnson’s lead owes more to falling ratings for Mr Sunak rather than improving ratings for the former PM.” Looking at the parties as a whole, Labour has a net favourability rating of +2 with the Conservatives on -29. When it coms to Brexit, 55% of respondents told Ipsos that leaving the EU had had a negative impact on the country, with just 21% saying it had been positive. It continues: “If we subtract the proportion saying Brexit has...
Read more