Politics

Sinn Féin widens its lead in latest Red C poll

The two main coalition parties are each down by one point

Sinn Féin, led by Mary Lou McDonald, has retained the record level of support the party reached last month in the latest Business Post/Red C poll. Picture: RollingNews

Sinn Féin has maintained its record high of 36 per cent support in this month’s Business Post/Red C poll, while a decline in support for Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael has widened the opposition party’s lead on the two traditional parties of government.

Last month’s poll put Sinn Féin’s support, one percentage point ahead of the combined support level for Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil. On this occasion, the party is now three points ahead, as the two major government parties are on a combined 33 per cent.

Add in the support level of the Greens, at 4 per cent, and Sinn Féin is just one point off the combined support for all three of the coalition parties.

The latest result means Sinn Féin has now been leading in Red C polls for the past eight months. It has managed to exceed a support level of 30 per cent since last October, whereas Fine Gael has not been in that position for the past 12 months.

First preference voting intention in the latest Red C poll: Sinn Féin holds steady on 36 per cent

Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are both down by one point to 14 per cent and 19 per cent respectively, while the Green Party is also down one point to 4 per cent. Support for independents has risen by one point to 12 per cent.

People Before Profit/Solidarity has increased its support by one point to 4 per cent, as has Aontú to 3 per cent. The Labour Party is unchanged on 3 per cent.

Sinn Féin’s support is far stronger in Dublin (30 per cent) than that of Fine Gael (22 per cent) or Fianna Fáil (11 per cent). But it is even more dominant in Connacht-Ulster, with 42 per cent of the vote, as well as the rest of Leinster (40 per cent) and Munster (36 per cent).

Full details of the poll, including analysis by Michael Brennan and Richard Colwell, are available here and here. The findings of a series of questions on the Northern Ireland protocol can be read here, and all these articles will also be published in tomorrow’s print edition.

Red C interviewed a random sample of 1,004 adults aged 18+ online between Friday, June 17 and Wednesday, June 22. An online approach was used, among our bespoke online panel Red C Live. Interviews are conducted across the country and the results weighted to the profile of all adults. Panellists were chosen at random to complete the poll, with quotas set and weights allocated on age, gender, class, region, education level & working status to ensure a nationally representative sample. A further past vote quota and weight is included that looks at how people on our panel voted at the last election (gathered at the time) and controls this to ensure it matches the actual results. Vote intention data is also weighted to take account of claimed likely turnout on the day of an election. In all respects, the poll was completed to the opinion polling guidelines set out by both ESOMAR and AIMRO