David Norris still has backing to re-enter Presidential election campaign

A third of the Irish electorate want David Norris restored to the field for the Presidential election next month.

The controversial gay Senator still retains the backing of 33 per cent of the Irish population according to a new opinion poll.

Norris formally withdrew from the race last month after a series of damning revelations concerning his defense of a former boyfriend in a child rape case in Israel.

But one in three voters still want to see the David Norris option on the polling card in October’s Presidential election.

The new Sunday Independent/Millward Brown poll suggests that 34 per cent of those asked would like to see Norris back in the race to succeed Mary McAleese.

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Norris still enjoys 18 per cent support as first choice candidate in the election even though he is officially no longer in the running.

The level of support for Norris to re-enter the race is almost twice that of those who would actually vote for him in the October 27th election.

Many of those questioned would like to see Norris as a candidate even though they wouldn’t vote for him themselves.

Of those polled, 46 per cent said they did not favor a Norris comeback, 34 per cent said they did and 21 per cent did not know.

According to respondents, Norris is a ‘vibrant, inspiring and modern’ candidate with few people attaching any ‘negatives’ to him despite the recent controversies.

Support for Norris is centered on Dublin and Leinster where he enjoys 37 per cent backing with Munster at 34 per cent and the West of Ireland just 23 per cent behind Norris.

Michael D Higgins remains the favorite to win the Presidential election and is well ahead of Fine Gael’s Gay Mitchell and Independent candidates Mary
Davis and Sean Gallagher in the latest poll.

Higgins currently enjoys 32 per cent first-preference support with Mitchell on 24 per cent, and Norris, on 18 per cent, ahead of Davis (13 per cent) and Gallagher (11 per cent) even though he is no longer a contestant.