Mr Harris’ approval has surged by 17pc from the last poll and he has jumped ahead of Tánaiste Micheál Martin to become the country’s most popular party leader.
The Fine Gael leader now has an approval rating of 55pc, followed by Mr Martin (47pc).
Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald (30pc) has seen her approval drop by 6pc. This is Ms McDonald’s lowest rating since The Irish Times poll began tracking approval ratings in 2019 before the last general election.
In his first poll since becoming Green Party leader, Roderic O’Gorman scored a 17pc approval rating, a drop of four points from the last rating of former leader Eamon Ryan.
The Government’s approval rating has also jumped to 40pc and Fine Gael has opened up a lead on both Sinn Féin and coalition partners Fianna Fáil. Mr Harris’ party has jumped up from 23pc to 27pc, putting Fine Gael 7pc ahead of Sinn Féin and 8pc ahead of Fianna Fáil.
Support for Sinn Féin continues to slide with the party down 3pc to 20pc while Fianna Fáil dropped by 1pc to 19pc.
Among the smaller parties, support for Labour (6pc), the Green Party (5pc) and the Social Democrats (4pc) all rose by 1pc. People Before Profit-Solidarity had no change on 2pc, as did Aontú which remains on 1pc.
Support for independents fell by 1pc to 16pc. Of the 1,200 people in the poll, 20pc said they were undecided voters.
Speaking to the Farming Independent this week ahead of the Ploughing Championships, Taoiseach Simon Harris said a lack of certainty around succession in farming is the “number one issue” for the sector.
He said his message to farmers and people in rural Ireland is that farming needs to be “talked up” and not demonised.
“But the number one issue that has genuinely come up with me is, ‘I want my son or my daughter to go into farming, to take on the family farm and I’m not sure what that world looks like’.
“And so the first thing I want to say, and I think this is not unimportant to farmers, I want them to know that I will always champion farming and champion agri-food, and never talk it down.
“The second thing I want them to know is I want to take practical measures to make it easier in terms of succession, passing on the family farm, and also showing people pathways into farming.”
His focus, he said, is “to support young farmers and support the family farm in knowing that it can be passed on to the next generation.”
