I ran out of time last night to cover all of the remaining opinion polls, so just for the sake of completeness, here are the ones I didn't get round to...
MORE IN COMMON
Constituency ballot:
SNP 32%
Labour 20%
Reform UK 18%
Liberal Democrats 13%
Conservatives 13%
Greens 2%
Regional list ballot:
SNP 23%
Reform UK 22%
Labour 19%
Liberal Democrats 12%
Greens 10%
Conservatives 10%
IPSOS
Constituency ballot:
SNP 35%
Labour 20%
Reform UK 18%
Liberal Democrats 11%
Conservatives 10%
Greens 2%
Regional list ballot:
SNP 26%
Reform UK 18%
Greens 17%
Labour 15%
Liberal Democrats 11%
Conservatives 10%
YOUGOV MRP
Constituency ballot:
SNP 39%
Reform UK 18%
Labour 18%
Liberal Democrats 11%
Conservatives 10%
Greens 2%
Regional list ballot:
SNP 28%
Reform UK 19%
Labour 16%
Greens 15%
Conservatives 11%
Liberal Democrats 9%
I can't really discern any consistent trend across the polling industry, except maybe that the SNP do seem to have slipped back a little on the list over the course of the campaign. But their constituency vote seems to have held up fine, at least according to the majority of firms. Perhaps the oddest finding is Ipsos showing Labour making a five-point recovery on the constituency ballot, which if the poll is exactly right will do them no good whatsoever in terms of seats because they remain stuck on a dismal fourth place on the list.
Although the central finding of the YouGov MRP is that the SNP will be three seats short of an outright majority, it does suggest there is still an 11% chance of a majority because a handful of constituency seats are so tight. If the poll is exactly right (a big if), the SNP would need to win *six* of the following seven coin-toss seats in order to win a majority of one.
Aberdeenshire West (YouGov projection: SNP 32%, Conservatives 31%)
Dumbarton (YouGov projection: Labour 37%, SNP 36%)
Dumfriesshire (YouGov projection: SNP 31%, Reform UK 27%, Conservatives 25%)
Eastwood (YouGov projection: Conservatives 30%, SNP 29%)
Glasgow Kelvin & Maryhill (YouGov projection: Greens 32%, SNP 29%)
Strathkelvin & Bearsden (YouGov projection: Liberal Democrats 36%, SNP 32%)
Edinburgh Southern (YouGov projection: SNP 34%, Labour 32%)
I would also give special mentions to Edinburgh Central, which YouGov have as a likely Green gain, Edinburgh Northern, which YouGov say is a likely Lib Dem gain, Galloway & West Dumfries, which YouGov say is a likely SNP gain, Banffshire & Buchan Coast, which YouGov have as a likely SNP hold, and East Lothian Coast & Lammermuirs, which YouGov say is a likely SNP hold. We have good reason to believe all of those could be very competitive.
Erring on the side of pessimism I have always thought that the SNP obtaining an overall majority on its own in this election was far too big an ask. Once this election has passed, however, a lot of political decks will have been cleared and I genuinely believe that if there is a majority of independence supporting MSPs elected then there will be an enormous push for another referendum in Scotland.
ReplyDeleteRabbits can live on salt water.
ReplyDeleteExcitement, at this stage of the contest? We are spoiled!
ReplyDeleteIt remains to be seen if Swinney's hostage to fortune winds up being a masterstroke after all. It's not like London is shy of moving the goalposts in any case. "Less than half the vote" is still waiting to be used.
Whatever he does, he'd better make a good show of it. The media's licking its chops for Starmer's downfall, preferably out of an upstairs window of Number 10 on Friday night. It's going to be a difficult environment to be heard.