Varadkar’s approval rating tops 50% as Fine Gael maintain opinion poll lead
Fine Gael holds a four-point lead over Fianna Fáil as talk of a November General Election has escalated, a new opinion poll reveals.
According to the latest Irish Times/IpsosMRBI opinion poll published tonight, support for Fine Gael is holding at 29% while Fianna Fáil declines marginally by one point to 25%.
The previous poll was carried out just prior to the local and European elections in May.
Both Sinn Féin and the Labour party have seen slight declines while the Green Party has seen its support double from 4% to 8% since May.
The large and varied group of 'Independents and others' are unchanged.
When it comes to the party leaders, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar’s approval rating has jumped with voters clearly happy with the Government's handling of Brexit and the economy.
Mr Varadkar's personal rating has jumped by 15 points since May, ending an 18-month long period of decline.
More than half of all voters, 51%, now say they are satisfied with Mr Varadkar’s performance as Taoiseach.
This is his best showing for over 12 months.
Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin's support has risen slightly, from 35% to 38%.
The poll shows support for the Government has also risen sharply from 31% in May to 42% now while the poll shows a strong approval for the Government’s handling of both the economy and Brexit.
A majority of voters, 54%, said the Government is doing a good job on handling the economy, while 60% of those polled said they approved of the Government’s handling of Brexit.
The state of the parties, when undecided voters are excluded, is: Fine Gael, 29% (no change); Fianna Fáil, 25% (down one); Sinn Féin, 14% (down two); Labour, 6% (down one); Independents/others, 18% (no change); Greens, 8% (up four).
When it comes to the smaller parties, groups, and Independents, the poll shows Solidarity-People Before Profit are at 1% (down one) among voters declaring a preference, the Social Democrats are at 1% (down one), Independents4Change are at 2% (no change), the Independent Alliance is at less than 1% (no change), non-party Independents are on 10% (down two), and other groups and parties are on 2% (down one).
Sampling for the poll was conducted from Friday to Sunday in the wake of last week’s budget and the meeting between Mr Varadkar and British prime minister Boris Johnson on Brexit.
According to the Irish Times, the poll was taken on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, among a total of 1,200 voters across 120 sampling points in all constituencies. The accuracy is estimated at plus or minus 2.8% at the national level.
Voters were also asked about Brexit and the poll shows that they are almost evenly split – a small majority among those who expressed a preference (47%) suggested that the Government should not compromise on the backstop to achieve a deal, even if this risks a hard border, with 42% in favour of compromise.
