More than half want more powers for Wales, poll shows

More than half of those who indicated a preference want Wales to have more powers, according to a poll by Sky Data and Cardiff University.

Excluding don’t knows, 52% said that they wanted more powers for the Assembly or wanted Wales to become independent of the UK.

Only 19% said that they wanted to abolish the Assembly altogether, with 4% wanting fewer powers and 25% wanting things left as they are.

In a straight Yes or No referendum, and again excluding don’t knows and those who said they would not vote, 20% would vote for Welsh independence.

Again in a straight referendum, and excluding don’t knows and those who said they would not vote, the poll projected that 72% would vote against abolishing the Assembly.

The full results can be found here.

Commenting on the results, Professor Roger Scully of Cardiff University said that discussion about growing support for abolishing the Assembly “has been misplaced”.

His comments came after details from the same poll published yesterday projected that the Abolish the Assembly party could win two regional seats in the Assembly.

“At present, as has been the case for well over a decade, the clear majority position in Wales, however we ask people and whichever company is asking the questions, is to support devolution for Wales within the United Kingdom,” he said.

“There is no clear evidence of significant change in those attitudes. The Abolish the Assembly party may be advancing in support, but support for their core policy position does not seem to be similarly moving forwards.”

Sky Data interviewed a nationally representative sample of 1,014 Sky customers in Wales online 7-14 December 2018.