John Curtice

Professor of Politics
University of Strathclyde
Professor of Politics

Biography

This fellowship is focused on public opinion towards Scotland's constitutional future, and will address three key questions:

  • Are people's attitudes towards independence simply a reflection of their sense of national identity, or are they are also shaped by what they think the consequences of independence would be?
  • Will people vote for or against independence simply based on this issue, or will they be influenced by their attitudes towards the UK government or the various political parties?
  • Has introducing devolution inevitably put Scotland on a path towards independence, or can a stable basis be found for governing Scotland within the framework of the United Kingdom?

The fellowship has resulted in the creation of a website, www.whatscotlandthinks.org, which provides a comprehensive collection of  data on public attitudes towards Scotland's future together together with blogs and briefings on the subject. This will be followed by a book length study in the new year.

Expertise

Constitution

Posts by this author

Making sense of the polls

Professor John Curtice shares his thoughts on what we can take from the polls, noting that the differences between polls conducted by various companies makes the outcome far from easy to predict.

The state of public attitudes

We have now reached the half way mark in the referendum campaign. It is just over twelve months since the two ‘official’ referendum campaigns, Better Together and Yes Scotland, were launched. And it is just over twelve months to polling day on 18th September 2014.