Irish Republican News · September 15, 2003

Govt popularity falls, Sinn Fein support surges

A poll in Saturday's Irish Independent has show that the current Irish Government's popularity is and that Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams is now the most popular party leader in the 26 Counties.

The Dublin government's popularity has plummetted to 25 per cent, the lowest of any administration in a decade. Support for the Fianna Fail-PD coalition has fallen 8% since March. Support for the main opposition party, Fine Gael, also fell.

The personal rating of Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has also fallen and now stands at 37 per cent. However the Millward Brown IMS poll also shows support for all the party leaders is down,

The poll published in in Saturday's Irish Independent shows: Fianna Fail 34 per cent (down 1 per cent); Fine Gael 21 per cent (down 2 per cent); Labour 15 per cent (up 2 per cent); Sinn Fein 10 per cent (up 2 per cent); Greens 5 per cent (unchanged); PDs 4 per cent (unchanged); Independents 11 per cent (unchanged).

The leaders' ratings are: Mr Gerry Adams (SF) 45 per cent (down 5 per cent); Pat Rabbitte (Labour) 43 per cent (down 9 per cent); Ms Mary Harney (PDs) 41 per cent (down 5 per cent); Mr Bertie Ahern 37 per cent (down 4 per cent); Mr Trevor Sargent (Greens) 31 per cent (down 7 per cent); and Mr Enda Kenny (FG) 26 per cent (down 6 per cent).

The last time a Government had a lower rating than the Coalition was in 1993 when only 22 per cent expressed satisfaction with Mr Albert Reynolds's Fianna Fail coalition with the Labour Party.

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