Economy Voting Results
In total, 361 votes were cast on our poll on issues relating to the independence referendum and the economy in Scotland. Of these, 220 (61%) users were male and 89 (25%) were female – with the remaining 14% not providing any information in response to this question. In addition, of those that voted on the site throughout April, 256 (71%) stated that they intended to vote Yes in the forthcoming referendum, with 40 users (11%) saying they would vote No and 19 (5%) saying they don’t know how they would vote.
With this information on the demographic details and referendum voting intentions of those that cast a vote on our economy questions, the results that were generated become particularly interesting.
In general, there was clear support across most questions for Holyrood gaining further control over Scotland’s economic functions. Interestingly, however, one of the clearest findings from our survey is that there was little desire from users to support the SNP Government’s central vision for an independent Scotland’s economy of allowing the Bank of England to set interest rates in Scotland. A clear 59% of site users voted no on this question.
Opposition to this idea was strongest among female users of our site at 64% compared to just 55% of male voters. It is also worth noting on this point that 57% of the 256 users (male and female) of the site who indicated that they would vote yes in the referendum, voted no on this question regarding interest rates being set by the Bank of England.
This contrasts with the results of our question on whether or not Scotland should enter a currency union with the rest of the UK in the event of independence, where 56% of all users voted in support of this idea.
So users of our site have told us that they want Holyrood to control economic issues in Scotland, they want a currency union with the rest of the UK in the event of independence, but they don’t want the Bank of England to set interest rates in an independent Scotland.
While understandable, if these results are in any way indicative of the views of the wider population then it would suggest that the Yes campaign and in particular the SNP, may have a challenge on their hands in the months ahead if they are to convince people in Scotland of the merits of the Bank of England having control over interest rates and other central economic functions in the event of independence.
For a full breakdown of voting result on our economy can be found at: www.scotlandvotes.com/topic/economy