Half Of Scots Satisfied With Salmond

Around half of people in Scotland are satisfied with Alex Salmond's performance as a political leader, according to a poll commissioned by the SNP.

A quarter are very satisfied (25%) and just under a quarter are slightly satisfied (23%), compared with just over a third who are dissatisfied (37%), the poll suggests. 

This compares with around a fifth who are satisfied with Prime Minister David Cameron (21%) and a satisfaction rating of 13% for both Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and UK Labour leader Ed Miliband, the poll suggests. 

Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: ``These are remarkable figures which underline the popularity of the First Minister after more than six years in office and the record of delivery of this Government. 

``By contrast, the ratings of the Westminster party leaders are all dire, reinforcing the other key poll finding that people trust the Scottish Government rather than Westminster to take decisions for Scotland by a margin of nearly four to one.'' 

This is the third release of statistics from a poll conducted by Panelbase for the SNP between August 23 and August 28. 

The first release on Monday found 44% of the 908 polled who are certain to vote in the independence referendum intend to vote Yes, against 43% who intend to vote No. 

The balance tips slightly in favour of a No vote at 42% compared with 41% for Yes once the additional 135 people who are less certain to vote are factored in. 

The SNP's second release yesterday found that support for independence rises to 50% if those most likely to vote on September 18 next year felt there would be another Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition at Westminster in 2015, and 47% if they predict a UK Labour government. 

A breakdown of the previous SNP releases published yesterday by Panelbase also reveals men are more confident about Scotland's prospects as an independent country, with 62% of those certain to vote agreeing that it could be successful against 43% of women. 

Men are also more likely to vote for independence, with 50% of those certain to vote indicating Yes and 38% for No, against 37% of women voting Yes and 48% voting No. 

A third of Labour voters think Scotland could be a successful independent country (34%), compared with around a quarter of Lib Dem voters (27%), around one in 12 Tory voters (8%) and eight in every 10 SNP voters (83%). 

A tenth of SNP voters do not think Scotland could be a successful independent country, and the same proportion intends to vote No in the independence referendum. 

Around a quarter of Labour voters intend to vote Yes (24%), compared with three-quarters of SNP supporters (77%) and around one in twenty Conservative (6%) and Lib Dem (5%) voters.