Voters continue to back the SNP at Holyrood
Our latest poll for STV news finds that the SNP remains in the lead in voting for the Scottish Parliament.
Our latest poll for STV news finds that the SNP remains in the lead in voting for the Scottish Parliament.
The regular Ipsos Scottish Public Opinion Monitor shows that, among those certain to vote, 39% would vote for the SNP, up 2 points since May. Labour are 4 points behind in second place on 35%, up a point since May, while the Conservatives are on 12%, down 3 points, and the Liberal Democrats remain on 7%.
Nicola Sturgeon has strengthened her position as the most popular of the political leaders measured. The Deputy First Minister has a net satisfaction rating (the proportion who are satisfied minus the proportion who are dissatisfied) of +21, up 7 points since May. Better Together leader Alistair Darling has a net satisfaction rating of +5, also up 7 points since May.
First Minister Alex Salmond appears to have halted the decline in his satisfaction rating and now has a net satisfaction rating of +8, up 6 points since May. Johann Lamont is on +6, up 1 point, though a third of Scots still do not know enough about the Scottish Labour leader to provide a rating. The other Scottish party leaders all maintained or increased their net satisfaction ratings: Green Party leader Patrick Harvie is on +11, though three in five Scots do not know enough about him; Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson has a neutral satisfaction rating, up 10 points; and Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie is on -5, up 4 points.
David Cameron’s approval rating continues to improve in Scotland as his net satisfaction rating increases by 11 points to -27. The Prime Minister is also the most popular leader among supporters of his own party, with a net satisfaction rating of +66 among Conservative supporters.
Christopher McLean, Senior Researcher at Ipsos Scotland said:
“Over two years on from their landslide victory in the 2011 Scottish Parliament elections, the SNP remain the most popular party among voters in Scotland. Indeed, the SNP’s popularity is aided by the high levels of satisfaction with the party’s leading figures as both the First Minister and Deputy First Minister continue to achieve high approval ratings. Scottish Labour continue to make progress under Johann Lamont and are close behind the SNP. However, a third of voters remain unable to rate the Scottish Labour leader’s performance, suggesting that more could be done to improve her profile among voters.”
Technical note
- This presents the topline results from Scotland
- Results are based on a survey of 1,000 respondents (adults aged 16+)* conducted by telephone
- Fieldwork dates: 9th – 15th September 2013
- Data are weight by: age, sex and working status using census data; tenure using SHS data; and public-private sector employment using Scottish Government Quarterly Public Sector Employment series data
- Where results do not sum to 100%, this may be due to computer rounding, multiple responses, or the exclusion of “don’t know” categories
- Results are based on all respondents (1,000) unless otherwise stated.
*Scottish Parliament voting intention questions only asked to those aged 18+.
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