Half a Million Scots Fall Out With Friends Over Independence Vote

Half a Million Scots Fall Out With Friends Over Independence Vote

Half a million Scottish people have fallen out with friends and family over how they will vote in the independence referendum, according to YouGov poll for the Sun.

The poll finds that 10 percent of Scots, amounting to around 500,000 people, have had arguments with the people closest to them over whether Scotland should leave the UK.

Of these people, 51 percent said they had fallen out because they planned to vote ‘no’ to independence, while 36 percent said it was because they were voting ‘yes’.

The findings will raise fears that, no matter what the outcome of the vote in September, the referendum will have caused deep divisions within Scottish society that could last well beyond the end of the campaign.

The campaign has been marred by over-enthusiastic nationalists losing their tempers online with Scots who are pro-UK, subjecting them to abuse and threats.

Last week, when Scottish-based author JK Rowling announced she had donated a million pounds to the anti-independence ‘Better Together’ campaign, she was branded a “whore” and a “bitch” by angry nationalists.

The poll suggests that aggressive nationalists are harming the independence campaign, with 12 percent of respondents saying they were more likely to vote ‘no’ as a result of the abuse and only 6 percent saying it made them more likely to vote ‘yes’.

Over all, the ‘no’ side now has a 20 percent lead among those who have decided which way they are voting.

Alistair Darling, head of the ‘Better Together’ campaign, welcomed his side’s improved polling.

“This poll confirms that our campaign speaks for the majority of Scots,” he said.

“Instead of the division and anger on offer from the nationalists, we have a vision of Scotland that we can all unite around.”

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