‘Settled couples most gloomy over crisis’

SETTLED couples are the most despondent about the plight of the economy and this depression has stoked a desire for a government of national unity to lead the country.

Of those between 35 and 64, 68% wanted a government made up of all parties. This was significantly larger than among younger people and pensioners.

As a measure of consistency, two thirds of married and cohabiting people wanted a temporary suspension of party politics compared to 58% of single people.

And the mood was not just a tendency, it was entrenched.

Nearly half of the middle-aged respondents strongly felt an all-party government would serve Ireland’s best interests at this time.

Results throughout the Irish Examiner/Millward Brown Lansdowne poll reveal this demographic is already the most distressed about the fate of the country and downbeat on its prospects for recovery.

Seven out of 10 women want the government of national unity while just 57% of men feel the same way. Almost half of women feel strongly about it.

Social class does not have much of a impact on the views towards this sort of political arrangement in the Dáil. The single section with pronounced views are the most well off, 29% of these would prefer the system stay the way it is with one government and one opposition.