OVER the past week, The National has revealed figures from its exclusive polling series on a wide range of topics.
This has included the level of support for Scottish independence, what Scots made of the BBC’s reporting on Brexit and whether or not Prince Andrew should be stripped of his Earl of Inverness title.
Below is a round-up of everything we found.
Indy support sees HUGE lead
Polling showed that support for Scottish independence is at its second highest level EVER reached.
It means that Yes has been in the lead in six polls since the Supreme Court ruled Scotland could not hold an independence referendum without Westminster’s consent.
Polling of 1094 people conducted between January 11 and 18 2023 showed that 54% of people would vote Yes while 46% would say No.
Polling expert John Curtice said that it was “too soon” to tell whether the UK Government’s intervention had any impact on Scots’ voting intentions.
BBC and Brexit
The research, conducted by British Polling Council registered firm Find Out Now, asked Scots to what extent people thought the BBC had “reported accurately on the impacts of Brexit in Scotland”.
Results showed that 30% of people thought the BBC had done “not very” well at reporting accurately on Brexit’s impact.
A further 23% said the BBC had “not at all” accurately represented how the decision to leave the EU has hit Scotland.
SNP MSP Jenni Minto said the results showed the BBC could “better serve” audiences north of the Border.
Support for de facto referendum
The idea of using the next General Election as a de facto referendum on independence has proved a divisive topic since Nicola Sturgeon first announced her plans to do so.
However, our poll revealed that nearly 55% of voters would back pro-indy parties if this was how the next General Election was fought.
It showed that 52% of voters would back the SNP, while 2% would back the Greens and 0.4% would vote for the Alba party.
The Tories were left languishing on just 12% while the LibDems recorded 7%.
Prince Andrew’s Earl of Inverness title
An overwhelming majority of Scots believe Prince Andrew should be stripped of his Scottish title.
A whopping 72% of the country think that the scandal-hit royal should have his Earl of Inverness title removed.
It’s a title he has held since 1986 when the Queen gave him it on his wedding day.
Tristan Gray, the convener of Our Republic, said that it was a great shame for Inverness that Prince Andrew still bears the city’s name.
Union Jackery
Our polling also found that Scots overwhelmingly prefer to see a Saltire on Scottish produce over a Union Jack.
The National has long reported on instances where the Saltire has been snubbed on food and drink packaging in favour of the Union Jack – and the potential damage that this can do to Scotland’s reputation.
Polling fount that just 16% of Scots preferred to see a Union Jack on packaging while 4% said they would prefer not to say and 9% said they “don’t know”.
Who is to blame for the NHS crisis?
Our Find Out Now survey showed that 56% of people in Scotland point the finger at Westminster for the critical issues in the health service.
Just 16% said that the Scottish Government has the most responsibility.
A further 10% of those surveyed said that the crisis was mostly due to “external factors” such as Covid-19 or Brexit.
