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Leah Farrell/RollingNews.ie

Poll shows drop in support for Fine Gael as Fianna Fáil surges ahead

The poll shows that support for Fine Gael is at its lowest point since Leo Varadkar became taoiseach two years ago.

SUPPORT FOR FINE Gael has dropped by five percentage points behind their rivals Fianna Fáil, a new opinion poll has shown.

A Sunday Times / Behaviour & Attitudes opinion poll has put support for Fianna Fáíl at 28%, five points higher than Fine Gael, which has dropped by five points to 23%.

The poll shows that support for Fine Gael is at its lowest point since Leo Varadkar became taoiseach two years ago. 

Speaking yesterday on RTÉ’s Marian Finucane Show, Varadkar said that his party hadn’t done as well as they had hoped in the local elections.

He said that in Dublin, a lot of votes that would have gone to Fine Gael in more affluent areas voted for the Green party, and said “we need to respond to what that means”.

He said that although unemployment was down and “people have more money in their pockets”, Varadkar said that voters “are not going back to us” and had “gone back to Fianna Fáil, so there’s an issue there for us.”

The poll will also be bad news for Sinn Féin, with support for the party plummeting seven percentage points to just 12% – the points below its general election result. 

Sinn Féin took a hammering in the recent local and European elections, losing two of its sitting MEPs and a number of councillors.

Meanwhile, public support for the Green Party has surged by five points to 11%. The party had a very strong election, greatly increasing its representation on local councils. 

In terms of party leaders, satisfaction with Micheál Martin is highest at 46%. Varadkar’s support has dropped by three points 39%, while support for Mary Lou McDonald has dropped seven points to 32%. 

The full state of the parties is as follows:

  • Fianna Fáil 28 (no change)
  • Fine Gael 23 (-5)
  • Sinn Féin 12 (-7)
  • Independents / Others 13 (+4)
  • Green Party 11 (+6)
  • Labour 5 (+1)
  • Independent Alliance 3 (no change)
  • Solidarity / PBP 2 (-1)
  • Aontú 1 (+1)
  • Renua 1 (+1)
  • Social Democrats 1 (no change) 

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    Mute The Divils Avocado
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    Mar 30th 2021, 6:24 AM

    No smoke without fire. An eradication of morale would fit with the recent reports on banning its members from partaking in a dance that every other emergency and voluntary rescue service in the country took part in. Publicising the organisation for all the wrong reasons. I don’t think I’d have much confidence in the management.

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    Mute David Corrigan
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    Mar 30th 2021, 6:17 AM

    “The official ‘Great Place to Work’ survey, commissioned by the Irish Coast Guard…”

    One would have to wonder if there are any connections between management and the company behind their own survey.

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    Mute Anto Curran
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    Mar 30th 2021, 6:56 AM

    @David Corrigan: wow that’s a fairly baseless accusation, one would have to wonder if there’s any connections between yourself and the unofficial survey that has no accountability or transparency (see I can do it too)

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    Mute David Corrigan
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    Mar 30th 2021, 7:02 AM

    @Anto Curran: Their own commissioned survey paints them in good light while the “unofficial” survey says that things are not so good within camp. Couple this to the fact that there is plenty of evidence of underhanded behaviour in this country means that there will always be suspicions around internally driven surveys.
    It’s not that hard to understand Anto is it?

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    Mute Madra
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    Mar 30th 2021, 7:21 AM

    @David Corrigan: those ‘Great places to work’ are a joke. A company I worked for won it once. They had more staff out on mental health issues due to senior directors and bully boy tactics.

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    Mute David Corrigan
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    Mar 30th 2021, 7:34 AM

    @Madra: Stone cold. There are a lot of people in this country who refuse to believe that kind of thing. It just couldn’t be true they say!!!

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    Mute Petulant mcbarity
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    Mar 30th 2021, 10:41 AM

    @David Corrigan: An unofficial survey might easily have a bias, being started by and forwarded to people with a grudge already.

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    Mute patrick boland
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    Mar 30th 2021, 12:48 PM

    @Madra: but it’s a great place to shop??

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    Mute Fintan Keating
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    Mar 30th 2021, 8:30 AM

    Why use a picture of RNLI boat and crew? Very different organisations.

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    Mute Mick McGuinness
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    Mar 30th 2021, 6:40 AM

    How many people actually use or know about the Coast Guard. Very few I’d imagine they do a great job when needed.

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    Mute flexfinn
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    Mar 30th 2021, 7:15 AM

    @Mick McGuinness: tbh here, everybody knows how good a job the coast guard and their volunteers do and luckily not many need to use their services

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    Mute Pat O'Leary
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    Mar 30th 2021, 10:21 AM

    Just as an aside, any sign of the official report on R116 crash in March 2017 (that would be fully 4 years ago) ever being published?? Not aware of any equivalent accident where within a couple of days they had the wreckage + a rough idea of what had happened, yet four years on people still waiting for the official accident report.

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    Mute Gavin Tobin
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    Mar 30th 2021, 10:17 AM

    Ask the right question, get the right answer?

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