HISTORIC BREAKTHROUGH as poll shows ALMOST EVERYONE would vote for independence if it's the LovelyThings version of independence with the LovelyThings pension - and there's a tantalising possibility of achieving TOTAL UNANIMITY if we chuck in a free wok

Yes, I'm being sarcastic, but where do you even start with a question like this?  It's a bit difficult to answer "no" to happiness, health and fairness, and in a way it's quite impressive that 39% of respondents actually did so.  The coup de grâce is when they come back at you when you're still pinned to the wall and say "Really?  You don't want happiness, health and fairness?  OK, what if we chuck in an extra £72.30 a week for your granny?  Come on, you're not going to say no to that, SURELY?"

If an independent Scotland meant that Scotland would implement a Wellbeing Economic Approach (a plan that recognises that quality of life, equality, fairness, sustainability, happiness, and health were all economic outcomes that should be given equal weight to growth in economic planning) - how would you vote if there was a Scottish independence referendum tomorrow? (Norstat / Believe in Scotland):

Yes 61%

No 39%

If the Wellbeing Economics Approach (detailed above) also included a commitment to increase the basic state pension from £169.20 to a Wellbeing Pension of £241.50 per week, how would you vote if there was a Scottish independence referendum tomorrow?  

Yes 66%

No 34%

Gordon MacIntyre-Kemp clarifies in his breathless write-up that he's not actually proposing to alter the referendum question, which is something of a relief, because I think he might struggle to get the LovelyThings question format approved by the Electoral Commission.

To be serious for a moment, I suppose this is not a completely pointless polling exercise.  It doesn't, of course, demonstrate what Gordon claims it demonstrates, or anything even remotely close to what he claims it demonstrates - there would not be a 66% Yes vote with a "Wellbeing" package because you wouldn't be able to ask voters such an epic leading question.  However, it does perhaps show that there is no outright hostility to independence among a large majority of the population, and that if you offer them enough lovely things, they won't refuse to even think about it.  That does actually matter, because standard polling sometimes gives the impression of an impenetrable unionist bloc vote of 45%+ that is implacably opposed to independence under absolutely all circumstances.

It's also, in fairness, a bit more plausible that offering people a better quality of life could substantially increase the Yes vote than it is that promising to abolish the monarchy would do so. Nevetheless, I think we need to find a somewhat more honest and rigorous way of testing the potential benefit to the Yes campaign of specific policy proposals, because people are just going to start laughing at these novel-length leading questions producing ever-more fantastical Yes supermajorities.  I'm almost a bit scared to think of what the next question in this series is going to be.