Second poll in a week shows fall in support for Fianna Fáil

Public anger at the slow pace of the rollout of Covid-19 vaccines and mounting frustrations over the continued lockdown restrictions are behind Fianna Fáil drop from 16% a month ago to 13%. Picture: Larry Cummins

A second opinion poll in five days has shown a fall in support for Fianna Fáil amid criticism of the Government’s handling of the vaccine rollout.

According to the latest Business Post/Red C poll, published Sunday, support for Taoiseach Micheál Martin and his party has slipped again with internal criticism of his leadership on the rise.

Public anger at the slow pace of the rollout of Covid-19 vaccines and mounting frustrations over the continued lockdown restrictions are behind Fianna Fáil drop from 16% a month ago to 13%.

There is also mixed news for the other Government parties.

Fine Gael is unchanged at 29% while the Green Party has fallen by 2 points to 3%.

The full state of the parties is as follows: Fine Gael 29% no change, Sinn Féin 29% up two, Fianna Fáil 13% down 3, Social Democrats 6% up 1, Labour 4% up 1, Greens 3% down 2, Solidarity/PBP 2% down 1, Aontú 2% no change, Independents 12% up two.

According to the poll, 55 per cent of voters believe that the government needs to be doing “far more” to speed up the vaccination process. That includes 42 per cent of Fianna Fáil supporters.

Since entering government, Fianna Fáil’s popular support has dropped to levels seen back during the dying days of Brian Cowen’s government prior to the 2011 General Election, when the party returned with just 20 seats.

Concern within the party has given rise to talk of a possible challenge to his leadership later this year if matters do not improve.

The Business Post/Red C poll was taken between Thursday February 18 and Thursday last week, meaning that it captured the Taoiseach’s announcement of the continued restrictions last Tuesday evening.