Taoiseach suffers eight-point drop in approval rating, poll finds

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar's satisfaction rating among voters is at the lowest level since he became leader, a new opinion poll has found.

According to the latest Irish Times/Ipsos MRBI survey, Mr Varadkar's satisfaction rating now stands at 43%, an eight-point decrease when compared to a similar poll conducted in October.

Despite this, he remains the most popular party leader, with Fianna Fáil's Micheál Martin and Sinn Féin's Mary Lou McDonald also seeing a drop in approval.

Mr Martin's satisfaction rating stands at 35%, a four-point drop since October, while Ms McDonald is on 33%, a seven-point decline.

Labour Leader Brendan Howlin achieved a one-point boost, bringing his satisfaction rating to 19%.

When it comes to the parties, and when undecided voters are excluded, the poll found Fine Gael commanded 30% of support, a three-point drop since October; Fianna Fáil is down one-point to 24%; Sinn Féin is at 21% (down three points); Labour is up two points to 6% and Independents/others are up five points to 19%.

Of this last category of Independents and smaller parties, the Green Party remains on 2%, Solidarity/People Before Profit are down one point to 1%, the Social Democrats (1%), Independents4Change (2%), Independent Alliance (1%), other groups and parties (2%) all remain unchanged, while the non-party Independents are up six points to 10%.

Satisfaction with the Government fell from 39% to 38% over the five months.

The poll was carried out earlier this week among 1,200 voters. The margin of error is plus or minus 2.8%.