Explaining politics to a (nearly) five year old

It will be a good 12 years before my eldest child can vote, but already she, along with her younger sister, has come with me to the polling booth on two occasions. The third is looming large on the horizon. Quite possibly, it is only the children who get a day off due to their school transforming into a polling station who will benefit the most from this election. I certainly don’t see any benefit to it and am getting …

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Poll: Overwhelming support for amending/abolishing Ireland’s strict abortion laws

The changes in the Republic from just a generation ago are profound. Today the Irish Times poll produces some remarkable figures showing support for abolition of the controversial Eight Amendment to the Irish Constitution, added in 1983 to prevent the casual legalisation of abortion in any form. Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the …

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After a turbulent start to ‘new politics’, Republic’s polling returns to February’s level

We don’t touch on every poll that comes out (and I’m not sure we even blogged Fianna Fail on 33%). [Hold on, Declan says you did! – Ed]. But this one is interesting if only in that it confirms that the loose political peloton formation that was such a feature of polls during the last government hasn’t gone away: Fine Gael, 26 per cent (up two points); Fianna Fáil, 26 per cent (down seven points); Labour, 5 per cent (no change); …

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Corbyn’s problem is that he’s much less well liked than his own party…

The Evening Standard have a lot of detail in the latest Ipsos Mori poll. But the interesting bit lies in the fact that the Conservative party is still disliked by more people than like it (55%-38%), whilst the Labour has people evenly split between the two (45% – 46%). The real difference arises in the leaders’ ratings, with May’s positives (60%) towering over both her own negatives (33%) and that of her party’s (55%), whilst Corbyn’s are somewhat reversed with …

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New poll suggests old FFers are returning to actual Fianna Fail…

One of the worse refractions of political light, as it comes across the border from the south to the north, is the illusion that somehow the southern electorate share the same obsessions and political outlook as those of us in Northern Ireland. For many northerners, southern politics did not really exist before the Sinn Fein expeditionary force began to should some fruit for it’s long and patient endeavour to seize power on both sides of the border. Accordingly, we tend …

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Whatever the lobby thinks poll suggests Micheal Martin is preferred to Enda as Taoiseach

For those in the southern press who think a grand coalition is just grand, and imminent, I’m just putting this here… …more people favoured a Fianna Fail-led minority government (14pc), rising to 37pc of Fianna Fail supporters ahead, of a Fine Gael-led one (8pc), rising to 19pc of Fine Gael supporters. The poll also found that 70pc of people would vote the same way if a new election was called, rising to 82pc of Fianna Fail supporters, 83pc of Sinn …

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When your leader is your greatest electoral asset, use them

LEADER RATINGS – Back in October, Mike Nesbitt had the highest rating of the five party leaders. Peter Robinson languished behind, only ahead of Alasdair McDonnell. Fast forward five months and two leadership changes later, Arlene Foster is top of the polls. Though much less of a bounce for Colum Eastwood who should be worried that he’s rated alongside Arlene Foster in the eyes of nationalists and barely ahead of David Ford.

Into the last week of #GE16 and momentum is with Independents and Fianna Fail…

By the end of this week, the election will have run its full course. And yet it’s clear that the journalists are suffering that usual sense you get in Irish elections that they’re getting shut out of a conversation they aren’t privy to… Richard Downes takes you ‘behind the spin’ with this report tonight. #RTEPThttps://t.co/qeUnaAEqDW — RTÉ Prime Time (@RTE_PrimeTime) February 18, 2016   Another of these surprising constituency polls (-/+5%) came out in the week suggesting that Sinn Fein’s …

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Latest Polls: Rise of ‘independents and others’ may make Ireland ungovernable for years

So two polls yesterday. One, a national one for Red C which seems to unwind the apparent progress for Sinn Fein and drops the Fine Gael party just a little closer to that bulging political peloton in the bottom twenties… A further fall in support for Fine Gael in the latest Red C poll for @IrishSunOnline #GE16 pic.twitter.com/937777rfy0 — Fergal O’Brien TV3 (@FergalOBrienTV3) February 16, 2016 With don’t knows squeezed to 9% very few are being drawn to support any …

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What the latest poll really says about the polarised nature of Irish politics?

As some of you will have noticed I have more or less given up reporting the polls in the south. Apart from a few blips, it’s pretty much been the same for much of the last 2/3 years. This morning’s Irish Times poll is no exception. Bear in mind that the error margin is -/+ 2.8% and there is no change here. These are the parameters of the election. When you factor in the randomising nature of PR STV multi …

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Is the polling meltdown in the UK a stern warning for Ireland [and #BrexitRef]?

So the British Polling Council is publishing Professor Patrick Sturgis’ report “The Inquiry into the Failure of the 2015 Pre-election Polls…” It doesn’t look good for the pollsters… For the first time we may be getting a clear glimpse of just who the shy Tory voter is. It may be that they aren’t shy at all, more that they are just too busy working to answer the phone or say yes to a pollster’s enquiry. Here’s the thing, not only …

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Who – if anyone – holds the social media key to the next Irish general election?

DIGITAL POLITICS: The real genius of the Obama 08 campaign was twofold: clear and resonant messaging and effective party governance to ensure that the online campaign had concrete local effect. Who (if anyone) can pull those magic ingredients out of their Irish political rattlebag come the Irish General Election in February or March?

After a financial crisis government majorities shrink, parliaments fragment…

POLL SCRAMBLE: According to the latest Ipsos/MRBI poll for the Irish Times the main political peloton behind Fine Gael currently consists of independents, Sinn Fein and Fianna Fail. At the moment Fianna Fail’s only compensation here seems to be that their positions reverse somewhat when there is a sign of an election.

#IrelandsCall: So similar and yet north and south continue their long slow drift apart…

RTE/BBCNI Ireland’s Call survey 2015 from Slugger Consults Here’s an initial collation of the slides from last night’s programme, taken from what RTE and BBC NI have shared on their websites, and a couple of screenshots I took at the time. If you have any more do let me know and I will add them to a second iteration? There’s lots of yummy data in the overall survey, not least the indications just how happy everyone seems to be both …

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RED C: SF continues to slide, and it’s hard to see a credible way back for the coalition

Just quickly to bring us up to date with the latest Red C poll… POLL: SBP/Red C (Mon-Wed, MoE ±3%) FG 30 (+2 in 6 weeks) Lab 7 (-3) FF 20 (+2) SF 16 Inds 20 (-4) Greens 2 Renua 2 AAA-PBP 1 SD 1 Others 1 — Gavan Reilly (@gavreilly) October 24, 2015 Two notable things. One is the rise again of independents, which puts my working theory of ‘convergence’ severely to the test. As the new Social Democrat candidate for East Cork Ken Curtain notes: This #redc chart …

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Oliver Callan on the different fortunes of Labour and Fine Gael…

Right, this is well worth a blog. “Sit up straight Mini Minister”… Note perfect from Oliver Callan on the divergent fortunes of Labour and Fine Gael in the persons of the ‘joint’ Finance Ministers in Dublin (Michael Noonan and Brendan Howlin) This is brilliant from @olivercallan RT @TodaySOR: A preview of Callan’s Kicks, tonight at 6.30pm https://t.co/aXmLLojscU — Sarah McInerney (@SarahAMcInerney) October 17, 2015 A snapshot from the latest poll should clarify matters, somewhat… Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. …

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Portadown Times gets pinged for not disclosing provenance of DUP commissioned poll in Upper Bann

And as the week closes, here’s an interesting wee bit of business for the UUP leader Mike Nesbitt in Upper Bann… The Portadown Times published results from what it said was an “independent” poll ahead of May’s general election. But it failed to acknowledge that the survey had actually been commissioned by the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP). Mr Nesbitt said the article “appears to have skewed” the election result. The article suggested that the gap in support between the DUP …

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RED C Poll shows another rally in the Fine Gael vote…

GOVERNMENT PARTIES RALLY: The stability (‘give us a chance to set up the recovery’) message may be working. Good news is the timing, as we are firmly in the pre budget period. Sinn Fein drift from pre summer levels, whilst Fianna Fail are steady on 19%.

Is the Greek crisis running an important political counterfactual on Ireland’s ‘nightmare bailout’?

I have to say that I take a rather different view from Paul on Ireland and the current phase of the Eurocrisis. Like all wicked problems, it is one replete with all sorts of layers and the Grexit issue is only one in a long line of thorny issues that will have to be dealt with. If there is a value in the comparison with Thatcher it might be between Tspiras and Arthur Scargill. You cannot fail to sympathise with the …

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Who Should I Vote For App’s – Accurate?

I’ve noticed in this General Election more than any other that there is an abundance of tools online to help the electorate align themselves with a party that matches closer to their values than another. Does it work though? Take a look at where I ended up across different guides. And don’t judge me…   Who Should You Vote For The questions weren’t exactly in-depth, each policy area was skimmed across rather than actually getting down to the nitty gritty …

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