The Ipsos poll published today has Public transport/roads 10th, with 18%, in the list of issues respondents say will affect their vote. Perhaps surprisingly, given the MSM obsession with them, no poll ever asks about ferries explicitly.
An AI estimate, based on media coverage, of the breakdown is Potholes up to 50% of the 18% or 9%; CalMac 25-35% or 6%, A9 dualing 10-20% or 4% and others 10-15% or 2%.
So, at worst, only 94% of voters will not consider the ferries when voting.
Footnote – OCD prof predicted to keep wasting his time, despite the above, defending CalMac, especially when the next Herald article claims that ‘islanders’ feel they ‘are living in a new Holocaust.’
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The main problem being that 10 out of 11 of those things are either out with our control or heavily affected by the approach of the westminster government.
E.G. if the minister for health at westminster decides to spend less or privatises a previous NHS service. SNHS is allocated a proportionally smaller amount or none for the equivalent service in Scotland, which means Holyrood must find the missing funds from it’s limited budget or cut the service accordingly.
There is no other option. Other than independence
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Most people in Scotland have no idea about these things. Certainly in England most folks just believe they pay for everything in Scotland, free Uni tuition, better child support, better NHS, free bus passes etc etc…their belief in their pretendy English philanthropy is bizzarre.
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Goes to show how much influence the Glasgow based media has. They are all at sea with the ferries 🤣
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This article, in particular item 2,in the Guardian puts the ferries in the shade. At least it would if it had the same level of coverage as the ferries. Read item 2 about the military preparedness, or lack thereof, of UK forces especially the Royal Navy and add in the Reid story to the mix.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/apr/08/conflict-iran-us-uk-geopolitical-standing-military-readiness-explainer
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It’s behind a paywall…the Guardian is a pretendy lefty anti SNP anti Scottish rag. No thanks.
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It is not behind a paywall. I have just hit the link I posted and was connected to the article. As far as I am aware the Guardian does not have a paywall. The second item in the article relates primarily to the Royal Navy and it’s woeful state. Yet MSM up here it is ferries, ferries, ferries.
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Certainly the latest IPSOS poll confirms ferries are not a “top five” issue for those surveyed.
“Healthcare/the NHS is again seen as the top issue helping voters decide which party they’ll vote for (56%, unchanged since March).
This is followed by inflation/the rising cost of living (returning to 41%, identical to December 2025, after a dip of 6 points in March) and immigration (27%). Energy policy is the 4th most important issue, with 27% saying this issue will be very important to how they vote – the first time energy policy has appeared in the top 5 issues for the public.
“A quarter of the public say Scottish independence/devolution will be very important to how they’ll vote (25%, rising to 57% among SNP supporters). The public remain divided on the constitutional question, with 50% of those likely to vote in an immediate referendum saying they would vote Yes and 50% that they would vote No.
“The SNP is the most trusted party to manage the NHS (27% trust) and tackle the cost of living crisis (25% trust), while Reform UK and the SNP are the parties most trusted to have the right stance on immigration (21% and 20% respectively). Around 1 in 5 of the public do not trust any of the parties on key issues.”
I’m personally disappointed that “immigration” features so prominently in third place (or, rather third equal, if energy also gets 27%), but other surveys (eg David Hume Institute) have been saying the same about immigration for some time.
I suppose if you give voters five or ten issues to choose from, and include “immigration”, that may explain some of it?
I’d prefer surveys which give voters a blank sheet. I would then expect (but I could be wrong) immigration to be lower, with “ferries” almost missing altogether.
What do others think?
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