Record numbers in favour of independence for Catalonia

The immediate consequences of the Catalan referendum on October 1 have provided a massive boost to the separatist movement in Catalonia, now the most widely held political stance, according to the latest poll by the Centre for Opinion Studies. The poll, taken between the 16th and 29th of October and published yesterday, reveals that the percentage of the population that would say yes to the question “Do you want Catalonia to become an independent state?” now stands at 48.7%, while 43.6% would respond no. Of the remaining respondents, 6.5% did not know and 1.3% did not answer. A total of 1,338 people were surveyed.

The figure of 48.7% in favour of independence is the highest recorded to date, even if the difference with those in favour of remaining part of Spain is not the largest on record. We must go back to June 2016 to find similar data, when those in favour totalled 47.7%, some 5.3 points more than those against. The difference in the poll published yesterday was 5.1 points.

Following that last poll in 2016, the number of sovereignty supporters had been slowly in decline, dropping as low as 41.1% in June of this year, when the last poll was published. However, the data released yesterday suggest that the trend has now been reversed.