SINCE the Supreme Court ruled that Westminster – not Scotland – must decide when and if a second independence referendum is held, the polls have made easy reading for Yes supporters.
The first published in the wake of the court’s ruling found a 52/48 split in favour of leaving the Union.
The second, published on Wednesday and conducted by Ipsos Mori, found a massive 56% of Scots would vote for independence in a second referendum.
While they are just polls, the results are encouraging for Yes supporters. They are also very discouraging for Unionists, some of whom have gone into meltdown over it.
Jamie Blackett, the former leader of George Galloway’s ill-fated, ultra-Unionist “All for Unity” project, tweeted that polling methodology used by Ipsos Mori should be illegal.
“There should be a law against this. #pollfraud,” he wrote, sanely.
The Majority, the pro-Union campaign group who made headlines calling for Nicola “Sturegon” to resign, screeched about a “SCANDAL” at Ipsos Mori, demanding answers on Twitter from the firm's top brass.
“How can anyone TRUST your company's polls when they consistently appear to be biased in favour of one side of a debate, and then used as propaganda by that side?” the Unionist group raged.
Perhaps against his better judgment, Ben Page, the firm’s global chief executive, did reply.
“Hold my whisky while I investigate. We could be utterly wrong although have a good track record in Scotland. Will reflect," he wrote.
ScotGoesPop blogger James Kelly also responded to the Majority, writing: “Will you stop embarrassing yourself, man?”
“He has a point ;)” Page wrote, suggesting he perhaps wasn’t taking the Unionist agitators too seriously.
Whether or not Page was taking the complaints seriously might be made clearer by another tweet he sent out not too long after.
He wrote: “I love Twitter because it reminds me daily that all polls I don’t like are badly designed, poorly executed and incorrectly analysed.”
I love Twitter because it reminds me daily that all polls I don’t like are badly designed, poorly executed and incorrectly analysed.
— Ben Page (@benatipsos) December 8, 2022
It gets even more ridiculous.
In an effort to discredit the polling they don’t like, the few folks at the misnamed “Majority” shared a post about an “actual result”.
Which result? The West Lothian council by-election in the Broxburn, Uphall and Winchburgh ward.
Only in Unionist fantasy-land could a council by-election which recorded a voter turnout of 27.2% be said to be more representative than a professional poll.
But then, fantasy-land is all some of these Unionists have left.
