VOTERS are overwhelmed by having to make political decisions and want independence campaigners to produce more facts and fewer statistics, according to exclusive new research commissioned by the Scottish Independence Convention (SIC).
The report also says independence depends on the SNP being “brilliant at the day job”.
The focus group work, carried out by Dr Iain Black, associate professor in marketing at Heriot-Watt university, is the first major piece of research to be commissioned by the SIC, ahead of their conference in Edinburgh’s Usher Hall on Saturday, November 4.
Among the confirmed speakers are leading Catalan independence activist Anna Arque, former First Minister Alex Salmond, cabinet minister Jeane Freeman, co-convenor of the Scottish Green Party Maggie Chapman, and a senior researcher from Oxfam GB, Katherine Trebeck.
The Heriot-Watt researchers talked to different groups of voters about their “feelings, beliefs and opinions regarding independence, their thoughts on the future and what will influence their vote next time”.
According to Dr Black’s analysis, printed exclusively in today’s National, voters are “overwhelmed, tired and confused” after being asked to make so many big decisions in recent years, and don’t want to get involved in another independence campaign just yet.
Though voters expect Brexit to be a shambles, and though No voters say it left them feeling “betrayed by the UK”, it is not yet “clearly influencing voting intentions”.
This, Dr Black says, might come when “the deal is known” if “things go as badly as anticipated and the effects are suffered personally”.
Black said the research “should be seen as just the first instalment of a continuous stream of data on the voters, and what will persuade them to vote Yes”.
You can buy tickets for the Build conference here:
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