THE latest Holyrood election voting intention polling shows the SNPare on track to secure a majority while the Tories fall into third place behind Labour.
The survey of more than 2000 people, carried out by Survation for DC Thomson, also found the Greens would secure 11 seats – an increase of five on the previous election. With the SNP’s 67 seats, this would result in 78 pro-indy MSPs in the Parliament.
According to the poll, Labour would win 24 seats and the Scottish Tories would secure 22 – with Anas Sarwar’s party’s regional list vote helping them into second place.
The LibDems would see a repeat of 2016 with five MSPs.
Meanwhile, with don’t knows excluded, the poll repeated recent trends by finding an even split for and against independence.
It was carried out after the First Minister and Alex Salmond gave evidence to the Holyrood inquiry, but before the publication of the committee’s, or Hamilton’s, report.
Polling expert Professor John Curtice commented: “All the polls are roughly around 50/50 at the moment and there is increasing evidence the whole row has not made much difference.
“Support for the country is split down the middle of the country and has been split down the middle since February.
“It’s clearly lower than it was last year, but it hasn’t really moved during the course of recent weeks.”
READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon kicks off SNP campaign with vow to protect Scotland's NHS
This week it emerged that a poll conducted by Hanbury Strategy and reported in the Sunday Times actually found majority support for independence, despite claiming the contrary. The 50/50 split was later corrected to 53% backing Yes.
Discussing the poll, Damian Lyons Lowe, the chief executive of Survation, said: “Despite recent controversies, these initial results, as the campaign kicks off, indicate the SNP would take a majority of seats were the Scottish Parliament election to be held today, receiving 50% of the constituency vote and a 39% share of the regional list second vote.
“Two-thirds of Scots believe the Scottish Government has handled the coronavirus pandemic ‘well’ vs less than a third who said ‘badly’.”
Meanwhile, another poll has revealed that Nicola Sturgeon is the most trusted political leader in Scotland, as the SNP urges voters to back her experience and leadership as we recover from the pandemic.
She is viewed favourably by 53% of those polled by Survation – compared to 21% for Labour leader Sarwar and just 16% for Douglas Ross.
Twice as many voters believe the SNP leader is “trustworthy” compared to former Tory leader Ruth Davidson – who is avoiding scrutiny by running off to the House of Lords ahead of May’s election.
48% of voters view the First Minister as an “experienced” leader who can lead the country from pandemic to recovery – while just 10% believe that of the Scottish Tory leader Ross.
SNP candidate for Dundee City East, Shona Robison, said: “Polling shows that people across Scotland put their trust in the strong, experienced leadership of Nicola Sturgeon as we move through the pandemic and towards recovery from the Covid-19 crisis.
“What a contrast with the Tories’ Scottish leader who is now in the position of being even more unpopular in Scotland than Boris Johnson.”
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