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:
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