According to a new poll, Nicola Sturgeon has been surpassed by Labour’s Anas Sarwar as Scotland’s most popular politician.
According to an Ipsos poll, the First Minister now has a lower net satisfaction rating than her Labour opponent.
It was also discovered that support for Scottish independence is split 50-50, with 50% in favor and 50% opposed.
Ms Sturgeon was forced to defend setting aside £20 million of taxpayers’ money for another independence referendum during the cost-of-living crisis today.
According to the Ipsos poll, only 32% of Scots support the SNP leader’s goal of having a second independence referendum by the end of next year.
Since taking government in 2014, Ms Sturgeon has been the most powerful figure in Scottish politics.
However, according to an Ipsos poll of 1,000 adults in Scotland, Mr Sarwar currently has a net satisfaction rating of +19, which is higher than Ms Sturgeon’s (+12).
With 53% stating they are satisfied with the First Minister’s performance, she remains the party leader with the highest satisfaction rating.
However, this is down from 58% in November and 62% in April of last year.
Ms. Sturgeon was rated unsatisfactory by two-fifths of respondents (41%).
Mr Sarwar’s satisfaction rate was 46%, while his dissatisfaction rate was 27%. However, 27% don’t know enough about him to give him a rating.
Douglas Ross, the most unpopular of the Holyrood party leaders and the only one with a net negative rating, has wavered on whether Boris Johnson should quit as Prime Minister as a result of the Partygate incident.
Support for Scottish independence has dropped five percentage points from a November 2021 poll, according to the most recent Ipsos poll.
In the most recent poll, both Yes and No had 50% support, but less than a third (32%) agreed that a new referendum should be held before the end of 2023.
A third said it should be later, with 18% saying it should be between 2024 and 2026 and 15% saying it should be later than 2026.
A third of those polled (31%) believe there should never be another referendum.
Since November, the percentage of people who think Scottish independence or devolution is one of the most significant issues confronting Scotland has dropped ten percentage points to 17%.
More people were concerned about inflation and rising living costs (30%), healthcare and the NHS (27%), education and schools (24%), and the economy (24%). (22 per cent).
Ms Sturgeon was pressed today during First Minister’s Questions in the Scottish Parliament to justify her’shameful’ decision to set aside £20 million for a second independence referendum.
Mr Ross charged Ms Sturgeon’s Scottish Government with finding “funding for another referendum but cuts to Scotland’s public services.”
However, the SNP leader claimed that her government had to spend £700 million every year’mitigating the consequences of Westminster policies that Scotland did not vote for – the Bedroom Tax, the rape clause, and the loss of Universal Credit’.
‘So yes, I believe £20 million, or 0.05 percent of the overall government budget, to give the people of this country the opportunity to pick a better future, is and will be a really wonderful investment,’ she continued.
‘Spending £20 million on a divisive referendum in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis is disgusting,’ Mr Ross said following FMQs.
‘Nicola Sturgeon’s gaze has wandered once more. She’s fixated on independence, when the majority of Scots want the focus to be on the problems that genuinely matter to them.’
According to the Ipsos poll, Mr Johnson’s approval rating among Scottish voters has dropped to its lowest level ever, with only 12% satisfied with the Prime Minister’s performance and 83% unsatisfied.
Sir Keir Starmer, Labour’s leader, was rated 38 percent satisfied, 40 percent dissatisfied, and 22 percent indicated they did not know enough to comment.