Poll authors defend adjustment method in face of party criticism

THE opinion poll that triggered a Fine Gael leadership heave is not a “rogue poll” its authors insisted in response to scepticism among the main parties over its findings.

Both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have criticised the adjustments applied to last week’s poll which lifted the core support for the Labour Party from 22% up to 33% – making it by far the most popular party.

Those who carried out the research removed the “don’t knows” from the overall findings and gave Fianna Fáil an extra 1%, Fine Gael an extra 5% and Labour an extra 11%.