FINE GAEL IS still the most popular party as the general election draws nearer, a new opinion poll by the Sunday Independent/Ireland Thinks has said.

Those polled indicated a high preference for a coalition between Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil, and Independents, with 69% choosing this option, compared to 31% who chose a Sinn Féin-led government excluding Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil.

The results of the poll, released this evening, was carried out by Ireland Thinks between yesterday, 1 November, and today. It surveyed 1,832 people and has a margin of error of 2.3%.

Of those surveyed, 26% said that they would give their No. 1 vote in the imminent general election to Fine Gael. One in five (20%) said that they would give their first preference vote to Fianna Fáil, while 18% said opposition party Sinn Féin.

Under 1 in 10 (9%) said they don’t know who they will vote for, while 61% said that they already know, and 30% said they are “broadly sure”. 

Fine Gael is currently on 26% approval rating, marking no change. Coalition partner Fianna Fáil gained a point, moving to 20%. The Green Party remains on 4%. 

Sinn Féin lost one point, moving to 18%. Labour (4%) and Aontú (3%) also dropped a point. Support for Independents/Other remained at 16%, and the Social Democrats (6%) and People Before Profit (2%) also remained unchanged.

Support for leaders, as derived from the poll, show Taoiseach Simon Harris leading on 53%, ahead of Tánaiste Micheál Martin on 48%, and Sinn Féin’s Mary Lou McDonald on 33%.

Green Party leader Roderick O’Gorman received an approval rating of 27%, falling behind Holly Cairns of the Social Democrats (43%), Ivana Bacik of Labour (34%), and Peadar Tóibín of Aontú (33%).

Last week, Green Party leader Roderick O’Gorman said that he was concerned that a previous poll, conducted by the Business Post / Red C, suggested Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael could form a government without his party.

Speaking on RTÉ’s This Week at the time, when asked if he would be concerned at the latest polling, Roderic O’Gorman said: “I would.”

He said he believed the three-party coalition had been “a good government”.

General Election

The results of the latest poll come as it is expected that Harris will dissolve the Dáil in the coming week, making way for the announcement of a date for the general election. 

The touted date is 29 November, though 6 December has also been mooted.

The three coalition partners are now making efforts to distinguish their parties from one another as the election draws nearer, with O’Gorman yesterday telling reporters that he was getting “pushback” on from his coalition partners on the area of the new traffic strategy, as well as some other measures too. 

Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael also indicated at possible frustrations between coalition partners.