ALBA could be on course for an upturn in their electoral fortunes and seats in Holyrood, according to the party.
The party's claim is based on a poll conducted by Panelbase, which asked: “Would you vote for the pro-independence Alba Party with your Scottish Parliament Regional List Vote if you thought it would help elect a higher amount of pro-independence MSPs to the Scottish Parliament?”
In response, 34% of those that backed the SNP in the 2021 Scottish Parliament constituency vote said they would vote for Alba with their regional list ballot in order to return a greater number of pro-independence MSPs.
Meanwhile, 37% of those that would vote Yes in a future independence referendum said they would also vote for Alba on the list to help return a larger pro-independence majority of MSPs.
Overall, 19% of those surveyed said they would back Alba on the regional list.
Alba say that the results show they have broken through into the political mainstream and that “a substantial amount of the electorate” now see the party “as the accepted means to progress the case for Scottish independence as a more immediate priority”.
However, polling expert professor John Curtice stressed that Alba need to pick up votes from people who would not vote SNP or Green if their intervention is to increase the tally of pro-indy MSPs.
He added: “Of those in the sample with a Holyrood list vote intention, two-thirds are currently SNP and Green supporters. Only one in five are currently supporters of one of the three main Unionist parties.”
According to Curtice, the net gain of the poll would correlate to a 4% swing in favour of pro-indy parties and that “you usually need 5-6% of the list vote to pick up a seat”.
He continued: “So if (and that's a big if) people were to believe voting Alba might help increase the number of pro-indy MSPs it might just help take them over the line. But even then, it is impossible to know in advance which party might fail to pick up a list seat in a region as a result - that is a bit of a lottery.”
Commenting, Alba Party’s general secretary Chris McEleny said: “This sensational poll result reflects what we have been seeing as we campaign across the country: people believe that the vision and the plan being set out by Alex Salmond is what the independence movement should be doing; our Alba MPs at Westminster are taking the action the independence movement wants to see; and we are putting independence as an immediate priority front and centre of all of our campaign activity.
“Scotland is an energy-rich land but we have the absurdity of millions of Scots facing fuel poverty, that is the social and economic argument that makes regaining independence as an immediate priority a necessity.
“Of course, independence is our priority, not the next Scottish Parliament election but if this poll translated into seats then Alba Party would completely wipe out the Labour Party and the Tories.”
