Climate towards Scottish independence

[Five-Finger Man]

I think that people in the situations you're describing are making a mistake. for me an issue like independence is a deal-breaker. If there are other issues which you disagree with the SNPs stance on just accept it. After independence is achieved it's easy enough to stop voting for them.

I find it really interesting to imagine such a creature who would believe themselves to be so cunning as to achieve their ends by the means of tactical voting, yet when the end in question is independence to adopt a tactic of voting for a unionist party is "cunning" indeed. Many people would describe such a "cunning" course of action as unbelievable, yet given my pessimistic opinion regarding the intelligence of your average Scot I think it is entirely believable.

[Purple Julie]

I don't think that opinion polls about who people want to vote for would be a true indicator of the general feeling about independence.

A better indicator would be if a market research company did a survey asking, 'do you support independence for Scotland?'

But I would like to know, what do YOU think the general feeling for Scottish independence is, based on your interactions with other Scottish people?

[Five-Finger Man]

The general feeling I notice is one of indifference.

Things are alright now and they'll probably be alright in an independent Scotland.

[Gypsum_Fantastic]

Originally Posted by Scottish_Republican

There is some truth in this statement, however, it omits the fact that many who vote for pro-Union parties support independence as well.

It's a claim nationalists like to make usually in order to demand a referendum for independence in the absence of getting a mandate for it at election time. I don't think it has any substance, tbh.

I actually think the main problem in this election is people misunderstand the system. Tactical voting is only necessary under first-past-the-post. People think the SNP are Labour's nearest challengers so the best placed party to defeat them but, of course, with proportional representation, every vote counts and every vote that isn't for Labour will count against Labour.

[Scottish_Republican]

Originally Posted by Gypsum_Fantastic

It's a claim nationalists like to make usually in order to demand a referendum for independence in the absence of getting a mandate for it at election time. I don't think it has any substance, tbh.

I actually think the main problem in this election is people misunderstand the system. Tactical voting is only necessary under first-past-the-post. People think the SNP are Labour's nearest challengers so the best placed party to defeat them but, of course, with proportional representation, every vote counts and every vote that isn't for Labour will count against Labour.

No it's not a claim "nationalists make". My dirty secret is that I voted for a Unionist party once. I'm hardly alone, and that was in FPTP - which we still have in constituencies, and councils (though not for long).

It's all very well to make the cliched claim that many people who vote for the SNP don't support independence, without thinking of the parallel situation over the fence.

[NovaBritannia]

Chirping in with my contribution:

I wouldn't consider myself 'British first, Scottish second' because I think ranking identities in that way is ridiculous. However ask me my nationality and the simple answer to that is 'British' - I think it entirely encompasses anything I could suggest about being Scottish, and a bit more besides.

As for the climate: despite the dyed-in-the-wool Nats having an orgasm over poll results, there's very little behind it. What I note nowadays is a real dissatisfaction with Labour in a way I've never seen before though - when one of my best friends mentioned he'd be voting Labour in a conversation (I had him pegged as a Lib Dem myself) I was genuinely shocked.

I think if the Nationalists think they can make any real moves towards Scottish independence out of this next election, then they will be sorely disappointed - as they always seem to end up being. I often wonder if the only thing that sustains the SNP is that every generation truly believes themselves to be on the verge of their great revolution which never comes.

An important point that I believe has been overlooked here however is that the great majority of the public simply couldn't care less. There's a lot who give reasonable consideration to how their children will be educated and how quickly they'll get their hip replaced on the NHS when they're older - but by and large, most people don't care all that much about politics. I think all this talk about Nationalism really is putting a lot of people over the edge into complete disillusionment with the political system. At one point, it really was tiring and I simply stopped watching any political coverage on the television as a result - and this from someone who actually does care about it all a great deal

[Scottish_Republican]

"British" isn't a nationality, it's an adjective describing a multinational state.