Fianna Fail has seen its support fall 7 per cent in six months and it now commands the backing of just 10 per cent of the electorate, one point less than Sinn Fein, according to an opinion poll published this morning.
The Millward Brown Lansdowne poll which is carried in today’s Sunday Independent puts Fine Gael on 40 per cent, up four points since the general election in February while Labour has the backing of 20 per cent of the electorate, up 1 per cent.
On 11 per cent, Sinn Fein is now the third most popular party in the State. The Green Party’s support is unchanged at 2 per cent.
The popularity of independents and other smaller parties has increased and, according to the poll, 17 per cent of the electorate would now give their backing to such candidates,, up two points since the election.
When the poll numbers are broken down by region, they make for even more alarming reading for Fianna Fail as they show that its support in Dublin has all but collapsed.
Just 5 per cent of people in the capital now say they support the party, a number which indicates that it has no chance of retaining its solitary capital seat in the Dublin West by-election which has been caused by the death of Brian Lenihan earlier this year.
The poll also shows that 40 per cent of voters say they are in favour of a David Norris comeback in the presidential election although Labour’s Michael D Higgins remains the most popular presidential candidate.
Mr Higgins is on 32 per cent, David Norris is on 19 per cent, Mary Davis has 18 per cent while Gay Mitchell and Sean Gallagher are on 17 and 14 per cent respectively. The poll was carried out before Sinn Fein’s Martin McGuinness threw his hat into the ring on Friday.