A modest shift towards Independence by Bermudian whites is revealed in the latest opinion poll commissioned by The Royal Gazette .

But the shift is seen only when survey results from all eligible voters are analysed. It is not seen among whites who say they intend to vote in the referendum.

And the shift is within the poll's margin of error of plus or minus four to six percentage points when results are broken down by race.

When all registered voters included in the poll were asked whether they currently favoured Independence for Bermuda, 19 percent said "yes,'' 61 percent said "no,'' and 20 percent said they were undecided.

That compares to 19 percent of registered voters in favour, 58 percent opposed, and 23 percent undecided when the same pollster asked the same questions in May.

But of those registered voters surveyed this month, only 72 percent said they planned to vote in the referendum. That was up from 69 percent in May. The results detailed in yesterday's The Royal Gazette related only to the 72 percent of electors who said they planned to vote.

Within the group that said they intended to vote, five percent of whites said they planned to vote yes, 87 percent said they would vote no, and eight percent were undecided. That reflected very little change since May, when three percent of whites who intended to vote said they would vote yes, 88 percent said they would vote no, and nine percent were undecided.

But within the group of all eligible voters, including those who did not intend to vote, seven percent of whites said they favoured Independence, 81 percent said they were opposed, and 12 percent were undecided. That compared to three percent in favour, 86 percent opposed, and 11 percent undecided when the same questions were asked in May.

Asked if they would vote in a referendum on Independence, 66 percent of blacks said yes, up from 62 percent in May, while 12 percent said no, down from 20 percent in May. Of whites, 83 percent said they would vote, up from 82 percent in May.