Salmond fails to get Commonwealth boost

Alex Salmond’s hopes of a Scottish bounce as a result of the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow have been dashed, according to the latest polling on Scottish independence.

According to the latest data collected by TNS-BMRB, 45 per cent of those questioned backed a no vote in next months’ referendum (+4 points from a month ago), 32 per cent expressed support for independence (unchanged) and 23 per cent said that they were undecided (-4 points).

The polling goes on to show that of the 71 per cent of all adults polled who said that they were certain to vote in the referendum, 46 per cent said they would vote no, unchanged from a month ago. 38 per cent plan to vote yes (up one percentage point), with 16 per cent undecided (down 2 per cent points).

Outlining the difficulty that the yes campaign will now have in securing the votes needed to achieve independence, Tom Costley, head of TNS Scotland, said:

“The fact that opinion among those certain to vote is holding steady is consistent with our previous polling, which has shown that voters on both sides are firmly committed to their views.

“With only a few weeks until the referendum, the hopes of the Yes campaign rest on winning over most of the dwindling number of undecided voters – at the end of last year, 25 per cent of those who said they were certain to vote had not made up their minds: that important pool of voters is now a third smaller.”

The polling came as the BBC has announced details of the second clash between Scotland’s first minister and the leader of the Better Together Campaign, Alistair Darling.

The clash will take place on the evening of the 25 August at the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow and will be available to watch on BBC One Scotland and on BBC Two across the whole of the UK.