Youth poll shows strong support for Labour Party

A new opinion poll amongst young people shows those aged between 18 and 35 plan to vote against national trends in next week's General Election.

The Red C poll in today's Irish Examiner reveals that Labour and Fine Gael are neck-and-neck amongst young voters on 25%

Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin are also level on support at 11%, while the Greens and Independents are on 5%.

The survey comes as political parties enter their final week of campaigning.

Labour is to launch a poster today highlighting what it says will be around €12,000 of debt on college students at the start of their careers, thanks to Fine Gael's proposal to introduce a graduate tax.

President of the Union of Students in Ireland, Gary Redmond says he thinks Fine Gael's proposal to tax graduates is the main reason why so many young people are likely to give Labour their first-preference vote.

"This is very likely down to the fact that Fine Gael has said that they’ll bring in a graduate tax where students will be asked to pay back in higher taxes after they graduate for their education," he said.

"Whereas the Labour Party this week have come out and said that they’ll actually reduce college fees by €500, back to the level they were before the Budget.

"This is something that students obviously care about an awful lot, and I think that’s going to be a huge consideration when they go to the polls next Friday."