KATE Forbes would not be guaranteed to boost the electoral fortunes of the SNP if she became party leader, a new poll has suggested.
A survey commissioned by Blair McDougall, a former No campaign leader and prospective Labour candidate, and undertaken by Find Out Now, asked whether Forbes replacing Humza Yousaf would make voters more or less likely to vote for the SNP.
McDougall requested the poll be undertaken for his Notes on Nationalism newsletter.
The poll also suggested that Forbes would be more likely to appear to Scottish Tory voters rather than Scottish Labour supporters.
The MSP for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch came second to Yousaf in the leadership contest earlier this year.
While she pitched her policy platform on economic growth, broadening appeal to No voters and socially conservative positions on issues such as gender reforms and gay marriage, Yousaf’s team insisted she would drag the party to the right, a claim Forbes refuted.
A recent poll showed that while support for independence remained steady, the SNP and Labour are neck and neck.
The Scotsman reports that voters would not be likely to move over to the SNP under Forbes in great numbers.
The poll found that 17.4% among all voters said they would be more likely to move over to the SNP under Forbes’s leadership, while 9.3% said they would be much more likely to do so.
However, 23.2% of voters said they would be less likely to vote for the SNP under her leadership, with 16.6% saying they would be far less likely to vote for the party with Forbes in charge.
Meanwhile, 59.4% of voters said they “didn’t know” if they would be swayed to vote for the party under Forbes.
When it comes to voters from other parties, Forbes was more popular among Conservative supporters, with the poll suggesting she would struggle to convince Labour backers.
Just under 16% of those who voted Labour in 2019 said they would be more likely to vote for the SNP under Forbes, while 33% said they would be less likely to do so and 28.9% said far less likely.
Meanwhile, Tory voters were most likely to say they would be more willing to vote for the SNP with Forbes as leader.
A total of 23.8% said they would be more likely to vote SNP, but 29.9% said they would be less likely to do so.
For SNP voters, 21.8% of those who voted for the SNP in 2019 said they would be more likely to vote for the party again compared to 25.5% who said they would be less likely if Forbes was in charge.
Forbes has been one of the critics of the SNP-Green co-operation agreement during the summer recess from Holyrood.
The former finance secretary and her allies have called for members to be allowed a “check in” vote on the Bute House Agreement at the party’s October conference.
However, First Minister Humza Yousaf has insisted that the power-sharing agreement will remain in place until the next Scottish Parliament election in 2026.
