The ‘Yes’ side will only make progress if they can win the debate about the economics of Scottish independence

EUROPP 2014-01-11

With eight months to go until Scotland’s independence referendum, John Curtice reviews the polls. He finds that most indicators continue to suggest that the verdict will be No. He also argues that although the debate will range far and wide in the coming months, the victory will ultimately go to the side that presents the most convincing economic argument.

When the campaigning is finally over, the final decision about Scotland’s constitutional future will lie in voters’ hands, as they cast their ballots on the 18^th September this year.

At the moment it looks as though their verdict will be No. Only one of the 28 Scotland-wide polls of referendum voting intentions conducted to date has put the Yes side ahead – and that poll (conducted for the SNP) was widely criticised for prefacing its questions with a couple that appeared to lead respondents in a pro-independence direction. Once those who say Don’t Know are put to one side (typically some 15 per cent or so of respondents), then across all polls conducted in the last three months the Yes tally has averaged 39 per cent, the No score, 61 per cent. In truth, this has been pretty much the picture throughout the whole of the last year.

However, although the polls have been stable, they have also been inconsistent. One company, Panelbase, has repeatedly put support for Yes at 44 per cent or 45 per cent (once the Don’t Knows are left aside). In contrast, in Ipsos MORI’s polls, for example, support for independence has ranged between just 34 per cent and 38 per cent. Inevitably, such a persistent discrepancy creates some uncertainty about exactly how far No are ahead.

Moreover, there are some signs that the publication at the end of November of the Scottish Government’s White Paper laying out is prospectus for independence may have helped increase the Yes vote by two points or so. We await the evidence of further polls to see whether this apparent boost for the nationalist cause has survived the Christmas and New Year campaigning lull.

How might the Yes side make the further, more substantial progress that they would appear to need? Almost undoubtedly only by persuading Scots that independence would make their nation more prosperous.

No other perception of what independence might bring is more closely linked to whether people say they will vote Yes or No. For example in one ICM poll, 87 per cent of those who thought independence would be good for Scotland’s economy (and had a clear voting intention) indicated they would vote Yes. The equivalent figure amongst those who thought independence would be bad economically was just 4 per cent.

Unfortunately for the Yes side, a majority of Scots are yet to be convinced that independence would actually bring about prosperity. According to YouGov, just 26 per cent are of that view, while 48 per cent believe the country would be worse off. TNS BMRB similarly report that only 23 per cent think Scotland’s economy would perform better under independence, while 45 per cent believe its performance would be worse. Even Panelbase find that only 32 per cent think that Scotland would be financially better off as an independent country while 44 per cent believe it would be worse off.

The debate about Scottish independence will range far and wide in the next nine months as the nation contemplates two alternative futures. But in the end it will be the debate about the economics of independence that will matter.

This article originally appeared at our sister site, British Politics and Policy at LSE

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Note: This article gives the views of the author, and not the position of EUROPP – European Politics and Policy, nor of the London School of Economics.

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About the author

John Curtice - University of Strathclyde John Curtice is Professor of Politics at Strathclyde University, and Chief Commentator at whatscotlandthinks.org, an ESRC funded website that offers a comprehensive collection of easily searchable data on attitudes towards Scotland’s constitutional future. Follow @whatscotsthink.