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Sinn Fein now more popular in Ireland than Fianna Fail

Adams is the most favored political leader

By
PATRICK COUNIHAN,
IrishCentral.com Staff Writer
Published Sunday, February 26, 2012, 10:13 AM
Updated Sunday, February 26, 2012, 10:55 AM

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Sinn Fein leader, Gerry Adams
Sinn Fein leader, Gerry Adams


Sinn Fein is replacing Fianna Fail as the acceptable face of Republicanism in the Republic.

A new opinion poll for the Sunday Times newspaper shows the party well ahead of Fianna Fail in the popularity stakes.

The survey, carried out by the Behaviour and Attitudes company for the Sunday Times, has Sinn Fein as the second most popular party in the state.

Gerry Adams has led Sinn Fein to more than a 25 percent backing from voters.

A year after Fianna Fail was wiped out in the General Election, Sinn Fein has swept ahead of the traditional Republican party.

Fianna Fail was decimated at the polls as Fine Gael, Labour and Sinn Féin all won their highest-ever number of seats.

The latest survey shows even more support for Sinn Fein since the election.
Support for Fine Gael has gone up by two points to 32 percent with support for their coalition partners in the Labor Party down by 1 percent to 10 percent.

Fianna Fáil support is down four points since December and now stands at 16 percent, a result that will not please the party just a week before their Ard Fheis.

Sinn Féin, now on 25 percent and rising, have gained four points at the expense of Fianna Fail.

Independents and others are down one point to 17 percent.

Satisfaction with Prime Minister Enda Kenny is down three points to 41 percent while his deputy Eamon Gilmore drops one to 34 percent.

Fianna Fáil’s Micheál Martin is down seven points to 33 percent while Gerry Adams is down two to 46% but enjoys the highest rating of any leader.

Satisfaction with the Government is unchanged, at 26 percent while 70 percent are dissatisfied and three per cent have no opinion.

​
See more: Sinn Fein , Fianna Fail , Irish government , Irish Politics
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21 Comments

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DanOLoingsigh | Mar 03, 2012, 05:31 AM EST
sirpete - or a pair of dirty old Canons found abandoned in SF constituency office?

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sirpeter | Mar 02, 2012, 09:25 PM EST
Dano.You got to understand Ó Snodaigh just got a bit excited when it came to cartridges.He thought he was back in the good old days.The difference this time was there was no dead British soldiers near the empty ones.Well he should pay it back unless I read British soldier found dead with ink cartridge in his head.It will be worth the €50,000 on ink cartridges then won't it?

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DanOLoingsigh | Mar 01, 2012, 03:26 AM EST
Seanmor - a united Ireland shall be brought about ONLY by peaceful means with the consent of a majority of the people in both jurisdictions in the island. This is why 'The Island' is sometimes used, to mean the current TWO parts, with their different laws, currencies, allegiances and economic cycles...Just because you want something to be a certain way, doesn't mean it is, and a party that supports only one culture, will always be limited to that group...

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Seanmor | Feb 29, 2012, 08:12 PM EST
Fianna Fáil's Republicanism has diminished significantly since the 80s, while Sinn Féin's popurarity has steadily incresed at both sides of the border since the hunger strikes of 81. For the past quarter century, S.F. is the only party that continuously supports the native culture, especially teanga na nGael, but its in the past few years it has increasingly referred to Ireland as "the island". Ireland is one nation, one country, one entity. The team that beat Italy in rugby last saturday was Ireland. Irish hockey is also represented by one team for the whole country in international competition, and the same is true of Irish cricket. Besides, all Christian denominations regard Ireland as one national entity. I wsn't born in Ireand and I've spent the greater part of my life in the U.S. but I consider ALL of Ireland my homeland.

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DanOLoingsigh | Feb 29, 2012, 05:51 PM EST
Comrade Seano is to be congratulated on his unswerving loyalty to the party, and is assured that only Irish taxpayers have contributed to Comrade Ó Snodaigh's toner collection...

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seanomelb | Feb 29, 2012, 04:38 PM EST
It appears that some posters here will manufacture a scandal to demonise the second most popular party.My!My! The west brits must be spitting in their teacups.

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IrelandNorth | Feb 29, 2012, 09:13 AM EST
Martin Mc Guiness, like Al Gore in US, is the best President Ireland never had. My prognosis for the near future (i.e 2016-'22), is that Sinn Fein, having gone up from 6% to 26% popularity rating in 'the Republic' (?) will reach 32%. The Fianna Fail Soldiers of [Fortune] who failed the Fenians will become politically extinct. And Fine Gael: The Commonwealth Party, will be politicallly irrelevant and consigned to the ashtip of electoral hysteryia.

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AMWilson | Feb 29, 2012, 02:07 AM EST
I would hesitate to call "cartridge-gate" a "proper political scandal", as Ó Snodaigh didn't technically do anything wrong. Excessive, yes, but wihin the rules of the time. I do think that, right or wrong, this reflects poorly on SF, but according to RTÉ, a FG TD was actually threatened with suspension from the Dáil when he attempted to refer to this as an "abuse of the system". Since Gerry and Mary Lou were presumably not using Aengus' printer, of course they would struggle to come up with an explanation.

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greensod | Feb 28, 2012, 05:23 PM EST
Great progress boys,Mary Lou, keep the heat on Kenny and his merry band.It is funny watching you pound the facts,while they pound the table.

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BARNEYKX | Feb 28, 2012, 03:40 PM EST
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/sf-td-says-printer-cartridges-worth-50k-he-took-from-dail-were-for-constituency-work-3033049.html they are learning fast fill your pockets at all costs first

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DanOLoingsigh | Feb 28, 2012, 02:03 PM EST
Somehow reassuring to see that SF are getting embroiled in proper political scandals these days...eg Aengus Ó Snodaigh and his €50,000 worth of printer cartridges...Gerry and Mary-Lou struggling to come up with an explanation... more preferable to the old association with cartridges of a more lethal sort, though...

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awoken32 | Feb 28, 2012, 07:06 AM EST
Gerry Adams an sinn fein have turned into pure turncoats,he would be a big danger to the country of ireland as he fully supports the colonisation of ireland by africans an asians,hypocrite of the highest order

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seanomelb | Feb 27, 2012, 05:22 PM EST
Adams at 46% the most popular politician in the country and Sinn Fein second in the party rates.It would make a west brit burst at the seams.I see towngate has returned, towngate posted some time ago that Patrick Pearse was a facist racist.

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merefalow | Feb 27, 2012, 04:25 PM EST
good,about time.

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AMWilson | Feb 27, 2012, 01:24 PM EST
"Adams has been exposed as a liar" .... no kidding! When you're trying to run a political party while having a hand in a paramilitary campaign which was also intended to further political ends, you're going to have to lie to stay out of prison. So for everybody in the past three governments who has lied and utterly wrecked the country, what's your point?

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