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The survival of the United Kingdom was hanging by a thread last night after the final Times poll in the referendum campaign put the nationalists only two points from victory.
The large YouGov poll put the No campaign to keep the Union on 52 per cent with Yes on 48 per cent. Four per cent remained undecided, enough to swing the result.
Menwhile a Survation poll conducted over the last 24 hours found the No side leading the Yes side by 53% to 47%.
That survey found that 9% of people remain undecided
Earlier, support for independence has risen to 49%, an Ipsos MORI poll suggested.
The Ipsos MORI poll showed support for Scotland staying in the United Kingdom on 51%, the STV news broadcaster said.
Support for independence had risen seven percentage points since a similar poll on 5 August, while support for the union had fallen by the same amount, it said.
However, thousands of citizens are still agonising over which way to vote.
Leaders and supporters of both sides have taken to the streets for a final day of campaigning in a country gripped by excitement and hope balanced by a strong measure of dread and concern.
Voters will be asked to answer Yes or No to the question: “Should Scotland be an independent country?”.
A Yes vote would spell the end of the 307-year-old union with England and the break-up of the United Kingdom, as well as economic uncertainty.
Last night, four surveys – from pollsters ICM, Opinium, Panelbase and Survation – showed support for independence at 48% compared with 52% backing for the union.
They found 8-14% of Scotland’s 4.3m voters are still undecided, despite polls opening at 7am tomorrow morning.
British political leaders have promised greater autonomy for Scotland if people decide to stay in the union, but independence supporters say it is time for Scotland to choose its own leaders and make its own decisions free of rule from London.
Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond, who has led the campaign for independence, urged Scots: “Wake up on Friday morning to the first day of a better country.”
In an open letter to voters, Mr Salmond said Scotland’s future was in their hands.
Invoking 18th century economist Adam Smith and Scotland’s greatest poet Robert Burns, he said: “Don’t let this opportunity slip through our fingers. Don’t let them tell us we can’t. Let’s do this.”
British Prime Minister David Cameron told The Times newspaper he always thought the contest would be tightly fought.
“Whatever the result, we are a democracy. You have to respect the expression of people through the ballot box,” he said in an interview.
Mr Cameron has visited Scotland twice in the past week to appeal for it to stay in the United Kingdom’s “family of nations”.
However, he is unpopular north of the border and is often dismissed as the epitome of the disdained English upper-class.
Asked if he woke up in the night sweating over the possibility of defeat, he replied: “Of course.”
Agencies/Canadajournal
