Analysis:The Taoiseach's problems mount up, but his party is virtually unscathed, writes Stephen Collins, Political Editor
The latest Irish TimesTNS mrbi poll is not good news for the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, but for Fianna Fáil the news is not so bad. The Taoiseach's problems continue to pile up, with a substantial majority of people refusing to accept that he has given the full story about his personal finances and a continuing fall in his satisfaction rating.
The good news for Fianna Fáil is that party support has bottomed out since the dramatic post-election slump last October and has even increased a little.
Support for the two smaller parties in Government, the Greens and PDs, is also up, although ominously supporters of both parties are dissatisfied with the performance of the Government and the Taoiseach.
The detailed figures show that Fianna Fáil supporters are still inclined to back Ahern, but he has lost the substantial level of soft support he has always managed to attract from supporters of other political parties.
While voters are almost equally divided on whether or not he should resign immediately, 44 per cent saying yes and 46 per cent no, there is a big divide between Fianna Fáil voters and the rest.
Among FF supporters 77 per cent think he should not resign, while 16 per cent think he should. By contrast, 68 per cent of Fine Gael voters think he should step down, 60 per cent of Labour voters share that view, as do 71 per cent of Sinn Féin voters.
On the question of whether he has given the full picture about his finances, 58 per cent of Fianna Fáil voters believe he has not.
Supporters of other parties are even less inclined to believe Ahern's account, with 94 per cent of Fine Gael supporters, 87 per cent of Labour, 95 per cent of PDs, 90 per cent of Sinn Féin and 84 per cent of Green voters saying there are further questions to answer.
Among Green voters, 52 per cent think he should accede to Opposition calls to resign and 42 per cent feel he should not, while 50 per cent of PD supporters agree that he should go and 45 per cent think he should stay.
Despite his own indication that he will step down before the next election, a clear majority of Fianna Fáil voters think Ahern should remain on and lead the party into the contest.
By contrast, supporters of all other parties think he should step down before then. Among Fianna Fáil voters 66 per cent want him to lead on, while that figure drops to just 16 per cent among Fine Gael voters, 20 per cent of Labour supporters, 31 per cent of Green voters and 41 per cent of PDs.
The same trend is evident in the breakdown of Ahern's satisfaction rating. While the national figure shows that 40 per cent of people are satisfied and 54 per cent dissatisfied, the response of Fianna Fáil voters is quite different. Among the party faithful 77 per cent are satisfied and 19 per cent are dissatisfied.
By contrast, his rating drops to just 16 per cent among Fine Gael voters, 23 per cent among Labour supporters and 21 per cent with Sinn Féin voters. Ahern is even in negative territory with supporters of his Coalition partners, with 65 per cent of Green voters dissatisfied and 29 per cent satisfied, while among the PDs 47 per cent are dissatisfied and 38 per cent satisfied.
As in the last poll the Tánaiste, Brian Cowen, has a higher satisfaction rating than Bertie Ahern. Among Fianna Fáil voters, though, Ahern is ahead with a rating of 77 per cent as against 73 per cent for his deputy. The reason Cowen comes out ahead among the electorate is that he has a much better rating among Fine Gael and Labour voters than the Taoiseach.
As far as the other party leaders go, Enda Kenny's rating is virtually unchanged but he is ahead of Bertie Ahern for the first time. Eamon Gilmore's rating has improved as he has settled into the job, while Gerry Adams is also up significantly. John Gormley and Mary Harney are virtually unchanged.
The baseline figures for the core vote of the parties show that the worst region for Fianna Fáil is Dublin, where the party's core vote is 27 per cent, a slight improvement on the last poll, but a whopping 11 per cent lower than the election figure.
This negative mood is even more accentuated when it comes to the Taoiseach's rating in the capital where just 32 per cent of voters are satisfied and 63 per cent dissatisfied.
Fine Gael has held its position as the second party in the capital with a core vote of 19 per cent, followed by Labour on 16 per cent, Sinn Féin on 9 per cent and the Greens on 8 per cent and the PDs on just 1 per cent.
After Dublin, the next worst region for Fianna Fáil is Munster, where the party received 30 per cent support, with Connacht/ Ulster being better again with 35 per cent. The rest of Leinster was easily the best region for the party, with support running at 37 per cent.
The Fine Gael vote is spread evenly across the country, with 25 per cent support in the rest of Leinster and Munster and 24 per cent in Connacht/Ulster.
Labour's best region after Dublin is Munster, followed by the rest of Leinster, while Sinn Féin's strongest region is Connacht/Ulster, closely followed by Dublin. The Greens are strongest in Dublin, with their support outside the capital evenly spread.
The PDs have gained a point since the last poll, but the party is still very weak in Dublin.
In terms of class, Fianna Fáil has slipped significantly among the wealthy ABC1 group, where it attracts 28 per cent support.
Its backing among the working class C2DE group has risen to 35 per cent, while it is on 33 per cent among farmers.
Fine Gael does better among the ABC voters, where it gets 25 per cent, than the poorer C2DE voters, but it is strongest among farmers where it gets 43 per cent.
Support for the Greens is concentrated in the better-off ABC1 category spread, while Sinn Féin is almost twice as strong in the lower-income group than it is among the better-off.
In terms of gender there is no great difference among parties, except among Sinn Féin supporters. The contrast here is striking, with party support running 11 per cent among men but just 4 per cent among women.
Support for Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael is strongest among the over-65s. Labour also does well among the older age group.
By contrast the Greens and Sinn Féin do worst among the over 65s. The figure for this group of voters supporting the Greens is strikingly low at just 1 per cent, while Sinn Féin does a little better with 4 per cent.
As the over-65s are the age group most likely to vote, the strength of the bigger parties in this category and the corresponding weakness of the smaller parties could have a real impact in elections.