The final polls of the 2005 campaign are listed here
| Pollster | Sample dates | Sample size | CON% | LAB% | LIB% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ELECTION 2001 | 7 Jun 2001 | 32.7 | 42.1 | 18.8 | |
| Independent on Sunday/CommRes | 23 Apr 05 - 28 Apr 05 | 1,091 | 31 | 39 | 23 |
| Financial Times/MORI | 29 Apr 05 - 1 May 05 | 1,009 | 29 | 39 | 22 |
| The Guardian/ICM | 1 May 05 - 3 May 05 | 1,532 | 32 | 38 | 22 |
| The Independent/NOP | 1 May 05 - 3 May 05 | 1,000 | 33 | 36 | 23 |
| Sky News/YouGov | 2 May 05 - 3 May 05 | 2,368 | 32 | 36 | 25 |
| The Times/Populus | 2 May 05 - 3 May 05 | 2,042 | 32 | 38 | 21 |
| Daily Telegraph/YouGov | 3 May 05 - 4 May 05 | 3962 | 32 | 37 | 24 |
| Evening Standard/MORI | 3 May 05 - 4 May 05 | 1623 | 33 | 38 | 23 |
| AVERAGE | 23 Apr 05 - 3 May 05 | 9,042 | 31.7 | 37.5 | 22.8 |
| ELECTION 2005 | 5 May 2005 | 33.2 | 36.2 | 22.6 |
The table shows that the polls were quite accurate, but still overestimated the Labour lead by about 3%.
| Pollster | Sample dates | Sample size | CON% | LAB% | LIB% | SNP% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ELECTION 2001 | 7 Jun 2001 | 15.6 | 44.0 | 16.3 | 20.1 | |
| Daily Telegraph/YouGov | 25 Jan 05 - 24 Mar 05 | 1,945 | 18 | 36 | 19 | 21 |
| STV/MORI | 26 Jan 05 - 5 Apr 05 | 934 | 18 | 47 | 15 | 15 |
| Sunday Mail/Scottish Opinion | 26 Apr 05 - 28 Apr 05 | 524 | 16 | 40 | 17 | 21 |
| AVERAGE | 25 Jan 05 - 28 Apr 05 | 3,403 | 17.7 | 39.6 | 17.6 | 19.4 |
| ELECTION 2005 | 5 May 2005 | 15.8 | 39.5 | 22.6 | 17.7 |
The polls estimated Labour's vote share very accurately, but overestimated both the Conservatives and the SNP at the expense of the Liberal Democrats.
There was also a series of System3 polls which were commissioned by the SNP themselves. Electoral Calculus chose not to use those polls because their independence could be not be guaranteed, despite pressure from the SNP and some of its supporters. Those polls overestimated SNP support by about 5%, so we are glad that we did not rely upon them.