Trust low amongst voters of outgoing and also, incoming government
Poll taken since counts completed
In the wake of Saturday’s general election, the firm Interactions Research has just published a survey of over 1,000 people who voted in the recent election.
The Interactions Survey Report states that trust levels are very low amongst the voters in the survey. 57% expressed low trust levels with the outgoing government while less than half (44%) expressed low trust with the incoming government which has yet to be formed.
Of those who gave a first preference vote to Sinn Fein, nearly three quarters (74%) expressed low trust in the outgoing government. However, it was interesting to note that although almost all of these (95%) expect Sinn Fein to form a part of the incoming government, half (49%) still expressed low trust levels with a Sinn Fein Government.
Claire Rountree Interactions Research said that “we asked over 1,000 voters about their trust in the outcoming and incoming governments. We also asked whether they had heard that Sinn Féin TD David Cullinan was recorded saying “What we say is, up the Republic, up the Ra, and tiocfaidh ár lá” while celebrating his election in Waterford this week. It was interesting to see that while nearly half (45%) of all our voters claimed this event had a negative impact on how they perceive the incoming government, Sinn Fein voters were largely unphased. Only 1 in 5 of Sinn Fein voters who had heard of the incident registered a negative impact about (a) the incoming government (16%) or (b) Sinn Fein (22%).
Who Will Form Next Government?
As is to be expected, a large number of voters, over 4 in 5 (81%) on the panel believe that Sinn Fein will form part of the next government. 39% believed it would be a FF/SF alliance, 37% believed it would be a SF/Other alliance, and only 15% believed it would be a FG/SF alliance. Amongst those who voted Sinn Fein, the proportion expecting a SF government rises to 95%. Over half (56%) the cohort who voted Sinn Fein No. 1 believe the next government will be a “SF/other party” alliance i.e. not FF or FG.