SCOTS would vote to leave the Union if a new independence referendum were held tomorrow, a new poll has found.
In a survey run exclusively for The National asking the questions our readers said were key, the polling firm Find Out Now found that 48% of Scots would back independence. On the opposing side, 45% said they would vote to remain in the Union, while 7% said they did not know.
With these undecided voters removed, Yes posted a four-point lead over No, by 52% to 48%.
Other topics readers of The National wanted to ask the Scottish public included a mandate for referendum, the monarchy, and immigration. We will be publishing these further results, as well as how people said they would vote in a Holyrood and Westminster election, through the week.
On the independence question, the results represent a shift towards the Union from the previous Find Out Now survey, run in April . Then, polling suggested that 52% of Scots would vote to leave the Union, against 41% who backed remaining. The 7% of “Don’t Knows” remains unchanged.
Keith Brown, the depute leader of the SNP, showed the results showed “Scotland sees the direction Westminster is heading and wants no part of it”.
“As Nigel Farage and the far right ramp up their dangerous and damaging rhetoric, Labour and the Tories are following, not fighting – that is not Scotland’s values and must not be our future,” he went on.
"Scotland deserves the right to choose a fresh start with independence – where we reject a Westminster system that does not represent Scotland's values and build the fairer, more inclusive country we know is possible with independence.”
Ross Greer, the co-leader of the Scottish Greens, said: “Independence is the only way to rid Scotland of toxic Westminster politics and the super-rich elites who exploit our country for their own profits. As this poll shows, the winds of change are behind those who want to build a fairer, better country.
“It’s time we cut ourselves loose from the institutions which brought us to this point of crisis. From the damaging isolation of Brexit to the ever-increasing hostility towards immigrants and asylum seekers, British politics is causing so much harm to Scotland.”
And Kenny MacAskill, the leader of the Alba Party, said the “poll shows that the dream of independence is very much alive”. “But we need a clear and credible strategy to achieve it,” he added.
“That strategy is for all of the pro-independence parties to unite in seeking a mandate for independence at the coming Holyrood election.
“We need to stop handing Westminster a veto over our constitutional future. We need to assert the sovereign will of the Scottish people and face down the UK Government.”
In July, First Minister John Swinney set out a three-point plan to achieve independence. He said that building support, upping the pressure on Westminster, and urging the public to vote SNP at the 2026 Holyrood elections were the key pillars of his approach.
Grassroots members of the SNP have responded with their own, nine-point plan which they say could see Scotland leave the Union.
Find Out Now surveyed a representative sample of 1282 Scottish voters between September 15 and 21, 2025.
