Sean Gallagher tops ‘exit poll’
Mary Minihan
Just wanted to share this quick ‘exit poll’ that was taken after a presidential debate this morning.
Six of the seven presidential candidates took part. Independent Senator David Norris had another commitment. After the debate, the audience was handed a ‘ballot card’ featuring pictures of the seven candidates and the question: “Following on from this morning’s Presidential Forum on Employment, which candidate is best poised to support job creation and address the issue of employment in Ireland?”
Audience members were encouraged to rank each candidate from 1-7, “where 1 is the best”. The results were: Sean Gallagher (Ind) 62%; Michael D Higgins (Lab) 13%; Martin McGuinness (SF) 9%; Mary Davis (Ind) 8%; Gay Mitchell (FG) 6%; Dana Rosemary Scallon (Ind) 2%. Norris got zero, but then he hadn’t taken part. A total of 199 ballots were received.
The event was hosted by Sigmar Recruitment in association with The Irish Times at the Royal College of Physicians on Kildare Street in Dublin from 7.30am (early start!). The audience was invited. I wrote up a quick report on the debate this morning, which you can see here http://bit.ly/p217U9
When I tweeted the results (my handle is @minihanmary) I got some interesting responses, including:
“Everywhere I go people are voting for him. He is a real player now and still has the first lady to unleash” (from @DenisCrowley)
“I have a sinking feeling that he is actually going to win the bloody election.” (@Johnm2501)
“Not altogether surprising in an audience made up almost entirely of business people” (@SeamusConboy)
“A 199 is hardly representative Mary & much less considering the voter were already of a certain “way of thinking”" (@Whistlinpaddy)
“Immigration imminent.” (@Niallofcork)
What do you think?
