Fianna Fáil has received a boost with the departure of Bertie Ahern as Taoiseach and the election of Brian Cowen, according to the findings of the latest Irish Times/TNS mrbi poll.
The poll also shows a big jump in the Government's satisfaction rating, while the new Taoiseach, Brian Cowen, is ahead of the other party leaders.
Fine Gael has dropped back since the last poll in the
Irish Timesin January, but Labour is up, well ahead of its election performance. The Green Party has slipped back significantly and Sinn Féin and the Progressive Democrats are also down.
The adjusted figures for party support, compared to the last Irish Times poll in January, are: Fianna Fáil, 42 per cent (up eight points); Fine Gael, 26 per cent (down five points); Labour, 15 per cent (up three points); Sinn Féin, 6 per cent (down two points); Green Party, 4 per cent (down two points); PDs, 1 per cent (down two points); and Independents/ others, 6 per cent (no change).
The only time in the past six years that Fianna Fáil achieved 42 per cent in a TNS, mrbi Irish Times poll was immediately before the general election of last year.
The poll was conducted last Monday and Tuesday among a representative sample of 1,000 voters in face-to-face interviews at 100 sampling points in all 43 constituencies.
The core vote for the parties compared with the last Irish Times poll is: Fianna Fáil, 40 per cent (up eight points); Fine Gael, 20 per cent (down three points); Labour, 11 per cent (up two points); Sinn Féin, 6 per cent (down two points); Greens, 3 per cent (up two points); PDs, 1 per cent (down 1 point); Independents/others, 4 per cent (no change); and undecided voters 15per cent (down two points).
Asked if they believed Bertie Ahern was right to resign from the Taoiseach's office when he did, 70 per cent said he was right to resign while 24 per cent said he was wrong to resign and 6 per cent had no opinion.
Fianna Fáil supporters were more inclined than other to say Mr Ahern was wrong to go but there was still a two to one majority among party voters who said he was right to go.