Anti-independence campaign disgrace themselves yet again by ignoring evidence that their supporters are responsible for the vast majority of abusive behaviour

Most of us on the pro-independence side, particularly those of us who make online comments about the referendum campaign, have long known that the lion's share of abusive behaviour comes from our opponents, and that the whole 'Cybernat' meme so beloved of certain journalists is one of the most grotesque victim-blaming myths ever invented.  From my own experience, I know that back in the days when Mr Smithson graciously still allowed me to post on Political Betting (aka "Stormfront Lite"), I was routinely informed by anti-independence posters that I was a "w****r", a "t*at", a "fascist", a "Nazi", a "traitor" to Britain, and a "c**t".

However, I don't think we ever expected to be provided with scientific polling evidence of just how severe the problem of bullying from the so-called "CyberBrits" has become, let alone that the evidence would come from a poll commissioned by the Express.  I'm prepared to offer that publication a conditional "well done" for accurately summarising the outcome of the poll, even though it was probably a million miles away from what they were expecting or hoping for.

Proportion of voters who have suffered abuse because of their views on independence :

Yes voters - 21%

No voters - 8%

The datasets haven't yet been released, but using voting intention figures in the last Survation poll as a guide, a rough calculation shows that of all voters who have suffered abuse, the breakdown is probably more or less as follows...

Yes voters - 68%

No voters - 32%

(Note : I've updated the above figures because I realised that I used the wrong calculation.  For the avoidance of doubt, this was a full-scale poll of more than 1000 Scottish residents, conducted by BPC pollsters Survation, so the margin of error is just 3%.)

The other reason the Express should be applauded for being honest about the poll's findings is that it shows up the anti-independence campaign's response for the vile comment that it is -

"The Nationalists are not taking this seriously enough. They should be making a concerted effort to control the more vitriolic elements of their support."

In other words, the only victims who matter are the minority of victims who hold anti-independence views.  The No campaign are just going to ignore the evidence that their own supporters are guilty of carrying out the majority of the abuse, and they're sure as hell not going to take any responsibility for tackling the problem.

And yet Blair McDougall, Alistair Darling and their merry mob still wonder why the people of Scotland have found it so hard to warm to them?