Inside the SNP: What activists really think of Sturgeon, indyref2, the Queen and Socialism

The SNP suffered defeat in last year's historic referendum but immediately bounced back with a landslide in the UK general election.

But what is the mood among party activists - many new members who signed up during or after the big campaign of 2014?

Are they upbeat about their main cause, independence? When do they think they could or should try to convince their fellow Scots again? And what kind of Scotland do members of the newly enlarged SNP want to create after their dream of independence is achieved?

The Herald decided to take the temperature of the party faithful at this week's record-breaking conference in Aberdeen.

So we asked 100 ordinary activists - some new to the party, others not - to fill out a questionnaire. This isn't a scientific poll, it's a snapshot of the opinions of 100 randomly picked volunteers, a kind of lucky dip sample.

However, we think the results are interesting and we hope you do too.

Please let us know what you think in the comment section below.

Our first - and arguably most important - question is about the next independence referendum. Last year we were told the 2014 vote was a "once in a generation" chance. So when do our activists want to go the nation again?

Here are the results:

So most of our SNP activisits want to see another independence referendum by 2019.

This issue was largely missing from the agenda at the party's conference.

The party leadership has taken a careful line, with Nicola Sturgeon saying circumstances would have to change before she asked Scots to vote again.

You can see Ms Sturgeon's views on the matter here

One curiousity in our survey: one SNP member chose an option indicating that they didn't want another referendum, choosing the write on their survey paper "I don't know if it will be needed!" That reflects a strand of opinion that says there could be a parliamentary route to independence.

But how confident are the party faithful that they can win next time round. We asked whether our 100 volunteers thought Yes could prevail in a referendum if it were held tomorrow. This is what they said:

Herald survey: would Yes win an independence referendum tomorrow

Our sample was pretty confident, but far from overwhelmingly so. Just 23 of the 100 said they would be 'very confident' of Scotland voting to break away from the UK.

A further 28 said they would be confident, but 41 chose what turned out to be the most popular option - that a referendum tomorrow would be 'too close to call'.

Just seven members said they would be pessimistic, with just one choosing very pessimistic. 

The latest opinion polls show Scotland pretty evenly divided on independence, so perhaps SNP members have reason to be cautious.

What do you think? You can let us know in the comments section below.

Now it is no secret that SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon is popular, with both the general public and the party faithful. But we wondered how her popularity among our volunteers would compare with her predecessors, Alex Salmond and John Swinney.

What would you think?

Will it be Ms Sturgeon?

Or Mr Salmond?

Well, here are the results: it's a landslide for the current SNP leader and first minister.

Mr Salmond may have led the party to the brink of independence, but only 15 of our sample said the Gordon MP was their favourite party leader since the Scottish Parliament was established.

Two thirds chose his successor Nicola Sturgeon as their top party boss since 1999, with four backing John Swinney, who led the SNP between 2000 and 2004.

I was surprised Mr Salmond's ranking was so low. But this is another sign of Ms Sturgeon's popularity in party: she is loved.

All three leaders, Ms Sturgeon and Mr Swinney and Mr Salmond were well received at conference.

Perhaps you think Mr Swinney, above, didn't get a fair crack of the whip from our panel?

Our straw poll revealed a wide range of views on one of the biggest decisions, the issue of another referendum aside, that is facing Nicola Sturgeon going into next May's vote.

Members were split almost down the middle over whether Holyrood should use new powers over income tax to raise the levy and help ease austerity imposed by Westminster.

Just over a third, 36, said they backed raising tax, just two more than those who were opposed to the option.

Some expressed their suspicion of the Scotland Bill with one explaining their decision to vote choose No by writing the powers over income tax would become "a noose around the neck" of the Scottish Parliament while another added: "why should we supplement Westminster further?"

Now that really was a tough question. After all, we don't know what state the economy will be in by the time a decision has to be made on taxation. What do you think?

We asked similarly difficult questions of the newly elected MPS, of all parties, back in June. You can see the results of that poll here.

There is another issue that has been absent for several years from large-scale debates at SNP conferences: the monarchy.

Some of their most staunchly unionist opponents regard the SNP as secret republicans. So what would you guess? What proportion of the rank-and-file back Alex Salmond's insistence that an independent Scotland should keep the Queen?

Well, it's a republican victory!

Almost 80 of our 100 volunteers said they believed that they would prefer an independent Scotland to become a republic, with just 19 backing the continuation of a constitutional monarchy.

Here is the result in full:

I didn't think this was a surprise. But it does show a party at odds with leadership on the monarchy.

There is a lot of debate about just how left-wing the SNP is.  Some critics reckon the party is made up of Tartan Tories. Others think they are dangerous lefties. So we asked our 100 volunteers how many think of themselves as socialists.

The reds have it! Socialists outnumber all others by 2-1. Ms Sturgeon, for what it is worth, describes herself as a social democrat. Is this what you would have expected from a group of activists at SNP conference? I was surprised yes is so high, maybe a sign of party to the left of its leadership?

The most controversial issue at this year's conference was on fracking. Our sample revealed why:

That is a pretty big majority against fracking.

So who makes up our 100? Well, we aren't going to give away any names. But they may not be typical of the new members.

While the SNP's membership has rocketed from from around 25,000 to nearly 115,000 since the referendum, just 36 of our sample had joined since the vote suggesting new members may be an unrepresented group at the annual gathering. Almost as many - three in ten - had joined before 1999 with 84 of the 100 never having been a member of a political party before.

But hardly any had previously been in another party. See our last graph below for details: