THE chips are down since midday on Thursday and with the posters up since midnight on Wednesday - and electors already inundated with promises - this year's campaign has hit the ground running.
At this early stage, while older electors can be excused if some are having visions of 1977 revisited, the electorate has also been subjected to numerous unimpressive slanging matches on the national media.
This will contribute little towards motivating the noncommitted voter to turn out, much less to float towards voting for any of the politicians concerned.
This represents the rather unpalatable background against which this opinion poll - the first to be conducted in the campaign since the dissolution of the Dail on Thursday last - was carried out on Monday and Tuesday of this week, before the publication of the Labour Party manifesto.
In the last opinion poll two weeks ago, after illustrating the extent to which floating voters had wavered in the elections of the 1980s and 1990s, I commented that many who remained undecided were adopting a wait and see stance.
Today, after the first weekend of the campaign, which was characterised by very heavy media interest, the uncommitted are still waiting to be convinced and, in volume terms, remain relatively substantial.
However, I continue to believe that the floaters who vote will be distributed across many parties and some independents - the later campaign polls may be more explicit about this.
With 2 1/2 weeks remaining, the Government satisfaction rating is five points above its level of two weeks ago, with a net favourable positioning of + 17 compared to +8 in the last poll.
The comparable ratings for all party leaders remain noticeably stable, and while none is perceived to be more impressive than usual, no own goals have been scored.
While the present party support positions reflect a very remarkable stability, with no movements taking place over the past two weeks and over the first weekend of the campaign, there are, nevertheless, many messages for all parties. There are, as yet, no signs that a significant swing is imminent.
Fianna Fail. If the election was held on Tuesday of this week, Fianna Fail, on 43 per cent, would be the largest party in the Dail and would be planning to lead the new government. With results of 39 per cent, 44 percent and 44 per cent in the last three elections, a Fianna Fail led government was the outcome.
Each of these election figures represented a downturn in support relative to the three opinion polls during the respective campaigns. However, support for the party has essentially not wavered over the past two months and the next two weeks will be crucial.
One of the unknown factors which I identified some weeks ago was whether Fianna Fail would again lose support as the campaign developed, considering the party now had a new leader with an ongoing high satisfaction rating. While there are as yet no indications that this will happen, many of the uncommitted may not decide until the last minute.
Fine Gael - In the last three elections, Fine Gael gained support as the campaign developed and in all three appeared to maximise its impact in that the final election outcome exceeded the figures of the respective campaign opinion polls. At 26 per cent, the party is positioned above the early polls in the three previous elections and we now await what the next two weeks will deliver.
With the differential between the two coalition options having closed by six points over the past two weeks, and the undecided electors virtually unchanged over the same period, the gap between the two main parties may also tighten.
Labour - Support for the Labour Party is marginally but not significantly down on the last poll two weeks ago. The current indications are not in conflict with the messages over the past year, during which the party had this same level of support on three previous occasions.
Progressive Democrats - Although the 7 per cent support figure, relative to 8 per cent in the previous two polls, may attract comment from some observers, it is of no significance whatever and does not reflect a trend. The party has the potential to maximise Dail seats to first preference votes.
Democratic Left - Although DL remains very solid at 2 per cent (net support) over the past eight opinion polls, the party obtained four seats in 1992 with 2.78 per cent first preferences. Coincidentally, the final MRBI poll in that campaign also had DL on 2 per cent.
The Green Party - This party has been consistent at 2 per cent to 3 per cent over the past two years, which compares with its 1.4 per cent first preference impact in 1992. There is little doubt that the party will show considerable improvement on this figure in the coming election.
Others - Current Sinn Fein support compares in overall terms with that for DL and the Greens but is likely to be more concentrated. The poll also identifies a very significant 6 per cent for independents.
Overview - The primary message is the remarkable uniformity in the party support figures between this survey and that of two weeks ago. Four of the party figures are identical and the undecided are down one point, which is not significant.
All of this taken in unison indicates that, after a very media active first weekend, the various taxation messages have cancelled each other out.
The undignified loud arguments which have characterised the first five days of the campaign must also have had an unfavourable impact and it is reasonably evident that those who can combine decorum with credibility over the next two weeks will make a much more acceptable impact with those who continue to remain uncommitted.