Cowen's big battle
- 86pc don't rate the Government
- 72pc don't rate the Taoiseach
- FF support plummets to 25pc
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Friday February 27 2009
TAOISEACH Brian Cowen will have to start a massive fightback at this weekend's Fianna Fail Ard Fheis after a devastating new poll revealed his Government has completely lost the confidence of the country.
The Government's popularity has plummeted to astonishing new lows -- with just one-in-10 voters satisfied with its performance as the country plunges further into recession, a new Irish Independent/Millward Brown IMS poll reveals.
Support for Fianna Fail has dropped dramatically to just 25pc as the party gathers to kick-start its campaign for the European and local elections. And just 21pc of the electorate believe Mr Cowen is doing a good job.
The party would stand to lose up to 30 Dail seats if the country went to the polls today.
The findings will heap pressure on the Taoiseach to deliver a show-stopping performance in his first leader's address to a Fianna Fail Ard Fheis.
The party's worst-ever electoral result came in the 2004 local elections, where it recorded just 32pc of the poll and lost 80 council seats.
However, the local ranks of the party are likely to be depleted even further unless there is a dramatic turnaround over the coming months.
While the Taoiseach retains the core support of his party, he will have to go some way to convince a highly sceptical and fearful electorate that he is the man to lead the country out of the worst financial crisis in the history of the State.
According to the poll, Fine Gael and Labour would have more than enough backing (52pc) to form a majority alternative government to the current Coalition.
However, despite now being the biggest party in the country, the poll also shows Fine Gael is failing to capitalise fully on the collapse in Fianna Fail's vote.
FG leader Enda Kenny's popularity has dropped back to one of his lowest ratings, with just 29pc of those surveyed satisfied with his performance.
Even his predecessor, Michael Noonan, enjoyed slightly higher popularity ratings in the weeks before Fine Gael's meltdown in the 2002 general election.
Significantly, he finishes last of the three main leaders when it comes to faith in his ability to manage the economy.
There is better news for Fine Gael's partner in opposition.
Support for the Labour Party has risen to 22pc -- more than double its share of the vote in the 2007 General Election. In stark contrast to his Opposition counterpart, party leader Eamon Gilmore is enjoying the highest satisfaction rating (52pc) of any leader, on the back of recent strong Dail performances.
More voters (29pc) trust him to manage the economy through the current crisis than his Fianna Fail and Fine Gael rivals.
However, despite unprecedented dissatisfaction with the Government, people are divided over whether there should be a General Election to form a new government with a mandate to steer the economy out of recession.
A slight majority (52pc) of voters are in favour of a new election. However, 40pc are opposed to such a move, with the remaining 8pc undecided.
Collapse
Despite the collapse in support for Fianna Fail, its main Coalition partner continues to hold its own in Government. Support for the Greens remains steady at 5pc, but party leader John Gormley's personal popularity is just 28pc.
Sinn Fein has failed to make any meaningful gains in the wake of its own ard fheis last weekend. Its support remains at 7pc, an insignificant 0.1pc improvement on its disappointing performance in the last election.
Support for Independents has risen to 10pc from 6.6pc in May 2007.
Nowhere is Fianna Fail's demise more evident than in the capital, where the party now enjoys the backing of just 18pc of the electorate -- behind both Fine Gael and Labour.
Loyalty to the Fianna Fail brand also appears to have evaporated, with just 56pc of people who voted for the party last time around saying they would do so now.
- Fionnan Sheahan Political Editor
