Even the diehard Fianna Fáilers turned their backs

A FAITHFUL dog never abandons its owner, and core voters display something of the same loyalty to their parties. No matter what the party does, the core voter tends to stick with it through thick and thin.

Even on its worst day, Fianna Fáil can usually depend on a core vote of somewhere between 28% and 30%.

This, then, is the reason why the latest opinion poll has proved so stunning. After enduring a truly miserable week, it was to be expected that the popularity of the main government party would decline. But the double-digit scale of the decline was a big surprise.