Support is growing for the Lisbon Treaty with a further swing to the Yes camp in recent months as the State’s economic situation deteriorated, according to the Irish Times/TNS mrbi poll.
The poll shows that 51 per cent would now vote Yes, an increase of eight points since the last Irish Times poll in November, with 33 per cent saying they would vote No, a drop of six points.
There are still 16 per cent in the “Don’t Know” category (down 2 points). When undecided voters are excluded, the Yes side has 60.7 per cent, with 39.3 per cent in the No camp. That compares to the referendum result last June of 53.4 per cent No and 46.6 per cent Yes.
In the poll, people were asked how they would vote in the light of the commitment to allow Ireland to retain an European Union commissioner along with legal guarantees on other Irish concerns about neutrality, abortion and taxation.
Voters were also asked if, in the light of the current economic crisis, they thought it was better to be part of the European Union. Some 80 per cent thought it was better to be part of the EU, while 13 per cent thought it was not and 7 per cent had no opinion.
The poll was conducted last Monday and Tuesday, among a representative sample of 1,000 voters in face-to-face interviews. These took place at 100 sampling points in all 43 constituencies.