Irish Times /TNS MRBI opinion poll

[pete]

Irish Times

Fine Gael has romped into a massive lead over Fianna Fáil according to the latest Irish Times /TNS mrbi poll which shows the main Opposition party at its highest level of support for a quarter of a century.

The poll also shows that satisfaction with the Government has slumped to a record low of 10 per cent, with a massive 86 per cent of voters now expressing dissatisfaction with the coalition.

The surge in Fine Gael support to 38 per cent has coincided with the unveiling of the former RTÉ Economics Editor, George Lee, as the party candidate in the Dublin South by-election.

The boost for Fine Gael and the corresponding decline of Fianna Fáil to its lowest ever poll rating since The Irish Times began polling in 1982 comes after last month’s emergency budget and just three weeks before the European and local elections and the two by-elections on June 5th.

When voters were asked who they would vote for if there was a general election tomorrow the adjusted figures for party support, compared with the last Irish Times poll in February were: Fianna Fáil, 21 per cent (down 1 point); Fine Gael, 38 per cent (up 6 points); Labour, 20 per cent (down 4 points); Sinn Féin, 9 per cent (no change); Green Party, 3 per cent (down 1 point); and Independents/others, 9 per cent (no change).

The poll was conducted over the past three days among a representative sample of 2,000 voters in face-to-face interviews at 200 sampling points in all 43 constituencies. The margin of error is 2 per cent.

The core vote for the parties (before undecided voters are excluded) compared with the last Irish Times poll was:
Fianna Fáil, 20 per cent (no change);
Fine Gael, 29 per cent (up 5 points);
Labour, 15 per cent (down 2 points);
Sinn Féin, 8 per cent (no change);
Green Party, 2 per cent (down 1 point);
Independents/ others, 6 per cent (no change);
and undecided voters 20 per cent (down 2 points).

If FF would potentially get 20% in a General Election how bad will it be in next months vote. Labour are down too which is a surprise.

[irishultra]

I want to know how they still have 20%?

[Macy]

If FF would potentially get 20% in a General Election how bad will it be in next months vote. Labour are down too which is a surprise.

I want to know how they still have 20%

FF must be nearly at the floor now, so swings in the opposition probably going to come from each other. Labour still double what they got in the last General Election, and Gilmore at 51% satisfaction is way ahead of the others.

However, it has to be said that FG weren't out of the news in the week before the poll, with George Lee, but then the (despite what McCullogh on RTE was saying) the emergency budget changes haven't really properly kicked in yet so FF might have a few more points knocked off once the monthly salaries come through.

[NeilMcD]

Who are the muppets that supported Fianna Fail a year ago and no longer support them

[Ringo]

Only one poll counts. Expect labour to fall more as they'll now be seen as FG lite. Junior government partners.

[bennocelt]

Those muppets are the majority of the people living here. I think a lot of people voted ff last time because of a lack of credibility in the other parties' leaders. Kenny is a clown and Rabbite only talked about bringing down taxes which people realised was not going to be feasible. Gilmore seems to be more popular than him.

What i can't understand is people supporting fg instead of ff. They're the same thing. Things in this country are drastically bad and replacing one right of centre party with another is not gonna change anything

the only problem with that point is FF had bertie sterling deposits ahearn

[bennocelt]

Did that not come to light after the election? If it was known of before hand it's a sign of how ridicolously tolerant the irish people are of corruption - it's ripe at every level of irish politics and that is simply because of the attitude of irish people

yeah - doh

[pete]

What i can't understand is people supporting fg instead of ff. They're the same thing. Things in this country are drastically bad and replacing one right of centre party with another is not gonna change anything

I think people are starting to see through their populist policies. I might think Anglo Irish are a cancer in Irish banking but Labout said recently it should have been allowed to collapse.

[Macy]

I might think Anglo Irish are a cancer in Irish banking but Labout said recently it should have been allowed to collapse.

FG said that, and continue to say that, yet it's Labour that are being populist? A awful lot of the accusations against Labour are pure spin - for example they get criticised for voting against the guarantee, but they were proved a 100% right in being against the guarantee without proper controls put in place and without changes at the top. They're accused of being ideologically for Nationalisation of the banks, but then Lenihan was flip flopping on it this morning on Morning Ireland saying the Government weren't ruling it out.