Today's opinion poll, the second in the Northern Ireland Assembly election campaign, although indicating some limited movements in party support terms, continues to provide reasonable levels of comfort for Mr John Hume and Mr David Trimble, the two main players in the Yes campaign, with the combined support for their respective parties running at 53 per cent.
However, the undecided figure remains high at 22 per cent, indicating that many electors have yet to be won over in the final week of the campaign.
Although the support level for the UUP has dropped by six points, it remains in first position on 27 per cent, one point ahead of the SDLP.
Over the past two weeks, support for the DUP and Sinn Fein has increased by three and two points to 16 per cent and 10 per cent respectively, while that for the Alliance Party, the PUP and the other smaller parties has remained stable.
Should these levels of support materialise next Thursday, the parties and candidates supporting the Yes vote in the Assembly will be very strongly represented, with an estimated 73 per cent to 75 per cent of first preference votes.
Although I have previously commented on the risks involved in attempting to accurately predict the likely return of seats to first preference votes, broad estimates can be made.
In the Forum election in May 1996, both the DUP and the UUP returned the highest ratio of seats to votes, and on the basis of its performance then, the DUP would obtain an estimated 20 seats (18.6 per cent) with 15 per cent of first preference votes.
Using the same criterion (Forum 1996), the UKUP would obtain two to three seats, i.e. a much lower return than that of the DUP.
Estimating the outcome in terms of seats for the UUP is rather more complicated due to the number of candidates who are seen to be in the No category. In the Forum election (which is not strictly comparable), the party obtained 27 per cent of seats with 24 per cent of votes, a ratio of 100:114.
On this criterion, which may not necessarily be repeated, the UUP could win approximately 33 seats in the Assembly, and would be the only party to exceed the crucial 30 figure.
However, this estimate has to be discounted by the number of successful UUP candidates who are in the No category. Some observers put this figure at six, which would leave the total members in the No camp marginally short of the required 30 figure.
The SDLP vote remains very stable on 26 per cent, relative to the last poll two weeks ago, and is five points above the party's Forum performance, and two above its general election level.
As already mentioned, the undecided level remains high at 22 per cent, and while many may not yet have made up their minds, there also remains the possibility of a lower turnout than the very high figure in the recent referendum.
As in all elections which use the PR STV system, transfers will be crucial and in this instance it is possible that an estimated 90 seats will be filled on second and subsequent preferences.
This takes account of the fact that in six-seat constituencies with a quota of 14.3 per cent, it is likely that the ratio of successful candidates elected on the first count will be higher than the average in the Republic.
As a general rule, with appropriate vote management, parties with two or more candidates running in each constituency have the capability to maximise their return of seats to votes to the greatest extent. In this regard, the UUP, SDLP, Sinn Fein and the DUP indicate the greatest potential.
In terms of transfers, the indications are that the Alliance Party is likely to benefit to the greatest extent and is currently attracting notable transfers from UUP and SDLP voters. Alliance Party voters are reciprocating, with the two larger parties both gaining.
Current indications also show that Sinn Fein is transferring significantly to the SDLP while, in return, the only party currently transferring to Sinn Fein is the SDLP.
The UUP will also receive a reasonable volume of transfers from the DUP and also from the smaller unionist parties. While there is limited evidence of cross-voting between unionist and nationalist parties, there remains the large volume of undecided voters in second preference terms.
With two in five in this category, and approximately one in five undecided on their first preference intentions, a lot of groundwork remains to be done in the final week of the campaign.
In terms of campaign issues, peace is now seen by almost half of the electorate as the most important issue, and is positioned considerably ahead of all others. Decommissioning is in second place on 19 per cent, down from 28 per cent, and is followed by release of prisoners (14 per cent) and communication between parties (10 per cent).
Confidence that the Assembly will work remains relatively high at 54 per cent, with a third less optimistic; both figures being very similar to the previous poll of two weeks ago.
Finally, almost half continue to hold the view that decommissioning should begin immediately.
This opinion poll in Northern Ireland was directed by MRBI Ltd, and was conducted by The Harris Research Centre using its CATI Telephone System. The quota-controlled sample of 1,000 electors was stratified by constituency, and random digit dialling was used. Survey interviewing took place on Monday and Tuesday, June 15th/16th. Extracts may be published on condition that due acknowledgment is given to: The Irish Times and MRBI Ltd.