By a Newsnet reporter 
Ahead of the upcoming campaign on Scottish independence a recent opinion poll commissioned by Age Scotland shows that older people have lost complete trust in politicians with only 11% of older voters saying they trust them.
Not far behind were newspapers, with less than a third of older people saying they trusted Scotland’s traditional print media to report honestly on the constitutional debate.
By a Newsnet reporter
Ahead of the upcoming campaign on Scottish independence a recent opinion poll commissioned by Age Scotland shows that older people have lost complete trust in politicians with only 11% of older voters saying they trust them.
Not far behind were newspapers, with less than a third of older people saying they trusted Scotland’s traditional print media to report honestly on the constitutional debate.
While 96% of over 50’s say they are likely to vote in the upcoming referendum on Scottish independence, less than half felt suitably informed about the issues surrounding the referendum and almost six out of ten (57%) agree that charities, trade unions, churches and other civic society institutions should play a larger role in the debate about independence.
The poll results will give a boost to Civic Scotland groups who have been at the forefront in the campaign to have Devo-Max placed on the referendum ballot alongside independence and no change.
Commenting on the poll Chief Executive of Age Scotland David Manion said:
“It is clear that with two million people in Scotland over 50 and over 90% of them planning to vote in the referendum, the over 50s is the key constituency for all sides of the referendum campaign to engage with.
“However it is equally clear that older voters do not trust politicians to give them all the information to allow them to make an informed choice about Scotland’s constitutional future.
“Older people want and deserve to be much better informed about the issues and right now the focus on legality and process in the arguments for and against a new constitutional settlement for Scotland is actually a distraction to the real debate.”
The poll also showed that over one quarter of respondents (27%) did not trust the BBC to report on the independence debate in a factual manner.
However newspapers will be even more worried with a staggering 72% of older people saying they did not trust them to cover the great debate honestly.
In February 2012 Age Scotland Commissioned Vision Critical to conduct an online poll of over 50’s in Scotland and asked the following questions:
