SNP on course for narrow majority after election, poll suggests
The SNP could win a narrow majority of seats after the Scottish Parliament elections, a poll suggests.
Survation's opinion poll for the Daily Record found Nicola Sturgeon's party would win 67 seats at the election on May 6.
The poll put the other parties on a total of 62 seats, giving the SNP a majority of five. This is based on the party taking an average of 50 per cent of the constituency vote and 38 per cent of the regional list vote.
Fieldwork for the poll of 1,011 Scots was carried out on Thursday and Friday last week.
It suggests Scottish Labour would win 24 MSPS at the Holyrood elections with 20 per cent of the constituency vote, though the polling was carried out before Anas Sarwar was elected as the new leader of the party.
The Conservatives would lose their spot as the largest opposition party despite receiving 21 per cent of the constituency vote, going from 31 to 21 MSPS.
The Scottish Greens would go from six to 11 MSPS while the Scottish Liberal Democrats would gain one MSP, giving them a total of six.
Commenting on the poll, SNP deputy leader, Keith Brown, said: "This poll shows that [with] both votes [the] SNP can deliver a strong, fair and green recovery and put Scotland's future in Scotland's hands - not Boris Johnson's.
"It also shows that voters in Scotland are continuing to put their trust in Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP to lead Scotland's recovery. The people of Scotland want to have their say on Scotland's future in a post-pandemic referendum, and the best way to secure that is with an SNP majority in May."
After the 2011 election, the SNP won 69 seats, with the party winning 63 at the 2016 election.
On Sunday, Survation released data from its poll on views around Scottish independence. It found support for independence had fallen to 50 per cent for the first time since June last year. When undecided voters are included, however, the Yes supporting side loses its lead by 44 per cent to 43 per cent, with 13 per cent people saying they do not yet know how they would vote.
A Survation poll done for the Scot Goes Pop blog in January gave independence supporters a 51 per cent to 49 per cent edge.