Last Thursday 300 adults in Drogheda, Co. Louth, were polled on their choice of candidates for the forthcoming Presicential election. The poll was carried out in various parts of the town by politics students in Transition Year from St Mary's Diocesan School in Drogheda.

The winner? The students found that Mary McAleese was the clear favourite, with over one-third of first choice votes. Mary Banotti was a not-too-distant second with Adi Roche, Derek Nally and Dana bringing up the field in that order. Just over 10 per cent were undecided as to how they will be voting on October 30.

Breaking down the demographics, the students discovered that McAleese has broad support from both males and females and, more importantly, she has a majority of the support from the younger people polled. The final result showed that she had the support of 142 voters. Banotti showed that she is a serious contender with a final poll of 115 - not an unbridgeable gap in the overall scheme of things. Banotti is proving popular among women in the over 35 age-group.

Roche came in at third place with a poor showing of 42 after transfers. Like Banotti, she is doing well among women over 35 but has made no impact on young voters, particularly young males. Next comes Nally with a final total of 34 - he garnered most of them from males over 35 years of age.

Dana was eliminated after the first count, with a dismal 25 first preferences. She polled best with women in the over 35 age-group. It's interesting to note that male support for her is practically non-existent - the ratio of female to male support for her was 4 to 1.

An analysis of the final results showed there was scant evidence of any transfer pact between Fine Gael's Banotti and Labour-backed Roche - in spite of the real-life pact they have agreed. Fianna Fail's McAleese got 17 and Banotti got 21 of Roche's transfers.

Robert McKeown (15), one of the Transition Year students who helped carry out the poll, said that many of the adults just could not take Dana seriously as a candidate for the highest office in the land. Others felt that she has no experience or capability to carry out the duties of the President.

In stark contrast to this, he said, many people felt that McAleese was a far more experienced candidate within the political realm and that ultimately she was the best candidate.

Darren Flanagan (16) pointed out that a major trend among female voters was their tendency to vote for the top two candidates, McAleese and Banotti. It was, he said, a case of "women voting for women." He also discovered that one of the main reasons why Roche had polled so badly was the perception that her campaign was not of a high-profile nature - in effect many of those polled did not know enough about her to justify giving her support.

One of the most interesting things discovered by the students was the fact that so many young people felt disinclined to vote for anyone in the election. "Younger people feel it's for the older people," explained Flanagan.

If this random poll indicates the general feelings of young people around the country then it's a worrying situation for the candidates, including the next resident of Aras an Uachtarain.