Fine Gael still most popular political party with General Election just weeks away – latest poll Tánaiste Micheál Martin hits at Fine Gael ‘ageism’ and says: ‘I’m a person of substance, not soundbite’
Fine Gael remains the most popular political party in the country, with 26pc support, unchanged on last month. It is followed by Fianna Fáil on 20pc (+1), and Sinn Féin falling to 18pc (-1). However, new data shows a notable swing in support towards Fianna Fáil when voters are specifically asked to select a No 1 preference among candidates in their own constituency after being shown a list of the already-declared and expected runners.
Based on the public’s response to that more detailed and localised poll question, Fine Gael’s support drops to 23pc, only two percentage points above Fianna Fáil, which rises to 21pc, with support for Sinn Féin still stuck at 18pc.
The poll of 1,832 people was carried out on Friday and yesterday, with a margin of error of +/-2.3pc. It also showed the Social Democrats unchanged on 6pc, Labour at 4pc (-1), the Green Party at 4pc (unchanged), Aontú at 3pc (-1), Solidarity-PBP at 2pc (unchanged) and Independents/Other at 16pc, also unchanged on the October poll.
The findings come as divisions between the two main coalition parties continue to escalate ahead of election day.
In today’s Sunday Independent, Tánaiste Micheál Martin (64) is critical of “mandarins in Fine Gael headquarters” suggesting he is a “grumpy old man” while Taoiseach Simon Harris (38) is full of energy. This, he says, is “ageism”.
In what appears to be a thinly veiled jab at the Fine Gael leader, Mr Martin insists he is a “person of substance” rather than a “person of soundbite”.
He also insisted his experience in politics gives him an advantage over Mr Harris.
“Simon will have strengths and I will have strengths, but I think that experience matters in a time of crisis,” he said.
“The world is in turmoil at the moment. I’ve good credibility on the international front, both as Taoiseach and as Foreign Minister.”
However, a clear majority (53pc) of those polled by Ireland Thinks believe Harris will be Taoiseach after the general election.
This compares with 17pc who believe Mr Martin will have the top job, while only 13pc opted for Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald.
Mr Harris remains the voters’ favourite political leader with a 52pc approval rating, followed by Mr Martin on 48pc and Ms McDonald on 31pc.
Fine Gael hit back at Fianna Fáil yesterday after the party unveiled its plan for annually reducing inheritance tax if returned to power. Mr Martin’s party criticised Fine Gael for failing to make significant reductions in the tax despite promising to do so.
A senior Fine Gael source said: “Inheritance tax wasn’t in Fianna Fáil’s 2020 manifesto, isn’t in the programme for government, no Fianna Fáil representative ever called for it and they never pushed for it. It only came on the budget agenda after Fine Gael pushed for it,” the source added.
However, the clear preferred choice of a government among those polled remains a coalition of Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and Independents, with 69pc choosing this option, compared with 31pc wanting a Sinn Féin-led government excluding FG and FF.
Separately, 46pc believe Mr Harris is the party leader most likely to fix the housing crisis if re-elected to power, with 36pc opting for Ms McDonald and 23pc choosing Mr Martin.
Of those polled, 57pc said political parties should declare their preferred coalition before the election campaign.
More than two in five (46pc) said they could be influenced by a party leader telling them to give their preference to another party. However, the vast majority (69pc) say they do not trust what political parties say during campaigns.
Just over a quarter (28pc) said they had been canvassed at the door of their home in the last two weeks. The majority of those who were canvassed said it was a Fianna Fáil politician (40pc), followed by Fine Gael (36pc), Sinn Féin (15pc), Social Democrats (10pc), Labour (9pc) and Greens (8pc).
The main issues for voters continue to be housing (55pc), followed by the cost of living (27pc), healthcare (27pc) and immigration (23pc).
