Fianna Fail is continuing to lose support, according to the latest opinion poll to be published. It also showed that corruption in politics would be a major determining factor in how people would vote in an election.
The poll, published by the Sunday Tribune, showed the most popular party leader is Mr Gerry Adams, who polled 3 per cent higher than the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, getting a 61 per cent approval rating.
According to the results Fianna Fail was at 40 per cent, Fine Gael on 21 per cent, Labour 14 per cent, the Greens 5 per cent, Sinn Fein 4 per cent, the PDs 3 per cent and others 13 per cent. Some 14 per cent of voters were undecided. While the results showed further decline for Fianna Fail, they also indicated the Opposition parties were failing to capitalise. None of them has made significant gains on previous polls, with respondents indicating increasing support for smaller parties and independents. When asked "which factors do you think would have the most bearing on how you might vote if there were an election tomorrow?", corruption in business and politics was put at the top of the list by more than one in four people. Other factors which followed closely were the health service, housing and inflation.
The Tanaiste, Ms Harney's satisfaction rating was 40 per cent, with 50 per cent of people saying they were dissatisfied with her performance as party leader. However, when asked about the indefinite postponement of the trial of Mr Charles Haughey, a majority of people said they believed the decision was wrong but were mostly inclined to blame the judge in the case for making the decision rather than Ms Harney.