15 March 2001 Edition
Fine Gael still sinking
9% support for Sinn Fein in 26-County urban areas
BY ROBBIE MacGABHANN
Fine Gael's ongoing slide in poll support shows no signs of abating. According to a new opinion poll conducted by Irish Marketing Surveys for the Sunday Independent, Fine Gael now have lower voter support and less public satisfaction with their leader Michael Noonan than the last IMS poll had with Fine Gael under John Bruton.
The poll results are all the more damaging for Fine Gael as it was because of a poor showing in an Irish Times poll in January that the party moved to depose Bruton in the first place.
Because of the restrictions on travel to the countryside, the poll was only conducted in urban areas. Respondents only showed a 13% support rating for Fine Gael, that's a drop of almost a third of their total urban vote. Support for Fianna Fáil was at 51%, up 6%. The Progressive Democrats were down 2% to 3%, while the Greens support also fell 2% to 4%. Support for Sinn Féin in urban areas surged up 3% to 9%.
Fine Gael have been laying blame for the ongoing poll slump on the publicity given to the controversial $50,000 Telenor donation. Fine Gael's Martin Hayes also felt the poll results were ``skewed'' and the number of undecideds at 27% was ``unbelievably high''.
However an MRBI poll published on 26 January had an undecideds rate of 25%, which though high shows the IMS poll is only registering a pre-existing trend.
Voters are clearly dissatisfied with the traditional parties and are either deciding to move to the smaller parties or not to vote at all. The January MRBI poll found that 67% of electors feel the fact people have lost respect for politicians was a reason why many adults are not bothering to vote. A further 23% thought loss of respect for politicians could possibly be a reason.
This adds up to nine out of ten electors showing reservations about politicians. Add in the 51% of voters who think election campaigns have become boring and you have a clear problem with the 26-County political system.
The media coverage of the poll on television and other newspapers focused on the drop in support for Fine Gael and Noonan's personal popularity. There was little comment on what the growing Sinn Féin performance in the polls could mean for the wider electorate.
It seems that an endless dissection of what's going wrong in an ever declining Fine Gael vote is deemed of more interest than finding out why voters are increasingly turning to the radical alternatives.
The poll offers a dual challenge to republicans in not only turning a good poll showing into tangible votes but also showing the other 27% of non voters that though Leinster House political parties and the tired political establishment are boring, it doesn't follow that Sinn Féin is too.
However, the Dublin media have their role to play and step one should be to reduce coverage of the ongoing deck chair rearranging on the sinking Fine Gael.
BY ROBBIE MacGABHANN
Fine Gael's ongoing slide in poll support shows no signs of abating. According to a new opinion poll conducted by Irish Marketing Surveys for the Sunday Independent, Fine Gael now have lower voter support and less public satisfaction with their leader Michael Noonan than the last IMS poll had with Fine Gael under John Bruton.
The poll results are all the more damaging for Fine Gael as it was because of a poor showing in an Irish Times poll in January that the party moved to depose Bruton in the first place.
Because of the restrictions on travel to the countryside, the poll was only conducted in urban areas. Respondents only showed a 13% support rating for Fine Gael, that's a drop of almost a third of their total urban vote. Support for Fianna Fáil was at 51%, up 6%. The Progressive Democrats were down 2% to 3%, while the Greens support also fell 2% to 4%. Support for Sinn Féin in urban areas surged up 3% to 9%.
Fine Gael have been laying blame for the ongoing poll slump on the publicity given to the controversial $50,000 Telenor donation. Fine Gael's Martin Hayes also felt the poll results were ``skewed'' and the number of undecideds at 27% was ``unbelievably high''.
However an MRBI poll published on 26 January had an undecideds rate of 25%, which though high shows the IMS poll is only registering a pre-existing trend.
Voters are clearly dissatisfied with the traditional parties and are either deciding to move to the smaller parties or not to vote at all. The January MRBI poll found that 67% of electors feel the fact people have lost respect for politicians was a reason why many adults are not bothering to vote. A further 23% thought loss of respect for politicians could possibly be a reason.
This adds up to nine out of ten electors showing reservations about politicians. Add in the 51% of voters who think election campaigns have become boring and you have a clear problem with the 26-County political system.
The media coverage of the poll on television and other newspapers focused on the drop in support for Fine Gael and Noonan's personal popularity. There was little comment on what the growing Sinn Féin performance in the polls could mean for the wider electorate.
It seems that an endless dissection of what's going wrong in an ever declining Fine Gael vote is deemed of more interest than finding out why voters are increasingly turning to the radical alternatives.
The poll offers a dual challenge to republicans in not only turning a good poll showing into tangible votes but also showing the other 27% of non voters that though Leinster House political parties and the tired political establishment are boring, it doesn't follow that Sinn Féin is too.
However, the Dublin media have their role to play and step one should be to reduce coverage of the ongoing deck chair rearranging on the sinking Fine Gael.