New Poll Puts No Camp In Front

13 September 2014, 18:40 | Updated: 30 March 2016, 13:50

The No campaign maintains a narrow lead on the Yes camp in the Scottish independence referendum, according to a new poll. When undecided voters are factored out, 54% plan to vote No while 46% intend to say Yes, according to a Survation poll commissioned by Better Together.

The poll also found 40% of voters believe they and their families would be financially worse off under independence compared to 27% who believe they would be better off.

It comes after a Survation poll for the Daily Record on Tuesday found 53% of Scots plan to vote No on September 18, with 47% saying they will vote for independence, excluding undecided voters.

The latest survey also points to a very high turnout, with 93% of voters saying they are certain to vote.

Blair McDougall, campaign director of Better Together, welcomed the latest findings.

He said: "This poll suggests that No are in the lead but that the race is far from over. No-one can afford a protest vote. Any one of us could cast the vote that makes the difference between the UK staying together or breaking apart.

"This week employers and retailers have set out the real economic costs of separation. They have made it clear that jobs will be lost and that prices will rise if there is a Yes vote.

"When we can have better, safer, faster change as part of the UK, why should we risk the costs of separation.''

Among those questioned, 40.8% said they plan to vote Yes, 47.0% intend to vote No, while 9% were undecided and 3.2% refused to say which side they would choose.

The telephone poll reached 1,044 people but had an effective sample size of 927 due to the weighting strategy used to mitigate some of the biases associated with contacting people by landline.

Commenting on the new poll, a Yes Scotland spokesman said: "This poll records support for Yes at 46.5%, and an ICM poll conducted around the same time put Yes at 49%. There is everything to play for, and this will spur on everybody who wants and is working hard for a Yes to redouble their efforts.

"As we say in response to all the polls, we are working flat out to ensure that we achieve a Yes vote, because it's the biggest opportunity the people of Scotland will ever have to build a fairer society and more prosperous economy.

"A Yes vote is our one opportunity to achieve job-creating powers, protect our NHS from the damaging impact of Westminster privatisation and cuts, and ensure that never again do we get Tory governments imposed on Scotland that we have roundly rejected.''

The latest poll was conducted between September 10 and 12.

Survation said that for the latest poll it used a different methodology to previous Survation polls on Scottish independence.