President Michael D Higgins heading for landslide re-election, poll shows

President Michael D Higgins is heading for a landslide re-election, according to a new poll.

A Sunday Business Post/Red C poll on the presidential election released today puts the incumbent as the front-runner on 67% support.

The opinion poll puts businessman Sean Gallagher in second place on 15% ahead of fellow Dragon's Den star Gavin Duffy on 6%.

The as-yet-unnamed Sinn Féin candidate, set to be announced this afternoon, was chosen by 7% of the respondents, while Senator Joan Freeman comes fifth in the poll with 3% support.

The poll was conducted over a seven-day period, starting on Thursday, September 6 and ending last Thursday.

🚨Brand new RedC/SBP #aras18 poll🚨

Michael D Higgins 67
Seán Gallagher 15
Sinn Féin candidate 7
Gavin Duffy 6
Joan Freeman 3
Peter Casey 1
Gemma O'Doherty 1

— Hugh O'Connell (@oconnellhugh) September 16, 2018

In a separate Sunday Business Post/Red C poll which was completed ahead of the new Dáil term, support for

Fianna Fáil was found to have dropped to its lowest support level in a year.

The poll asked participants which party or independent they would give their vote to if a general election was held tomorrow.

Just 22% picked Micheál Martin's party as their first choice which represents a three-point drop.

Fine Gael are now on 33%, some 11 points clear of their nearest rivals, despite dropping one point in this poll.

Sinn Féin are down two points in this survey to 14% while Labour remains rooted on 6%.

Independents are up 4 points to 13%, with the Independent Alliance on 4%.

The Social Democrats, Solidarity PBP and the Green Party have 2% support each with Renua on 1%.

Digital Desk