11/06/2010

Labour Take The Lead In Poll

A shock opinion poll has shown that trouble has again deepened for Taoiseach Brian Cowen as support for him and Fianna Fail dropped significantly.

The Labour Party has dramatically become the best-supported party in the Republic with the surprise results of a poll that was taken on Tuesday and Wednesday now being made public.

That was even before the reports into the banking crisis, which were highly critical of his tenure as Finance Minister, were published.

That raises the possibility that the heavy losses for party and leader could have been even worse. And if the Labour surge was to translate into seats in crude terms, then the party could go from 20 TDs to 60.

However, while Labour is benefiting from Fianna Fail's travails, Fine Gael (FG) and its leader Enda Kenny are failing to make any ground at FF's expense.

Support for FG fell by 4%, effectively eroding any gains since the last general election.

Mr Cowen and Mr Kenny both plunged in their personal satisfaction ratings, mirroring the drop in their respective parties.

Labour soared to 32%, up a massive eight points since January, making it the number one party in the country, according to the latest figures.

Eamon Gilmore, at 46%, remained steady as he held on to the title of the most popular party leader.

Support for Labour, as detailed in the 'Irish Times' Ipsos/MRBI opinion poll, is treble what the party achieved in the last general election in 2007.

It is double the party's support from the local and European elections a year ago.

(BMcC/GK)

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