--- description: Cast your vote title: Scottish Independence Referendum Poll: Should Scotland Say Yes or No? image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Scotland](/tag/scotland/) ## Scotland Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # POLL: Should Scotland Be an Independent Country? by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 16, 2014 7:00 AM CUT by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 16, 2014 7:00 AM CUT The Scottish people will vote Thursday on whether or not to declare independence from the United Kingdom. If the “No” vote is successful, England’s northern cousin will remain a part of the family; should the “Yes” vote prevail, Scotland will strike out on its own and leave Great Britain significantly less Great. Polling forecasts a close race, with the nationalist movement gaining steam over the past few weeks. But while Thursday’s referendum is open only to residents of Scotland, many other people around the world feel invested in the future of the Highlands. Not just Hibernophiles and other Celtic advocates, for whom the keening whine of the bagpipe represents a cry for freedom, but also devotees of the sovereign state who would rather the Union remain intact. So we’d like to give readers a chance to register their own opinions on Scottish independence, answering the same question the voters themselves will face. We’ll publish the results on Thursday morning, as the Scots themselves go to the polls. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3379239/scottish-independence-vote-poll/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3379239/scottish-independence-vote-poll/"},"headline":"POLL: Should Scotland Be an Independent Country?","datePublished":"2014-09-16T07:00:34.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T10:11:28.935Z","description":"Cast your vote","url":"https://time.com/3379239/scottish-independence-vote-poll/","keywords":["Scotland","europe","U.K.","independence","Scotland topic"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/scotland/","name":"Scotland"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3379239/scottish-independence-vote-poll/","name":"POLL: Should Scotland Be an Independent Country?"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Besides Scotland, Where Else is Secession Possible?","description":"Scotland holds a referendum on September 18th to decide if they want to break away from the UK and be an independent country, but who else have they inspired?","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/hWa6FEa5/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-09-16T17:34:51.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/hWa6FEa5.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3379239/scottish-independence-vote-poll/","duration":"PT2M35S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3379239/scottish-independence-vote-poll/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```