Boost for Fine Gael in first opinion poll since election of Harris as Taoiseach

Taoiseach and leader of Fine Gael Simon Harris

Fine Gael has seen a rise in support following the election of Simon Harris as Taoiseach, a survey has found.

Support for the party has jumped by three points since the last canvass in March to reach 20%, according to the Sunday Times/Opinions poll.

Mr Harris became the country’s youngest Taoiseach on April 9 after the surprise resignation of Leo Varadkar as Fine Gael leader.

The survey also found that one in four voters are more likely to consider voting Fine Gael at the next election.

Almost the same proportion, 24%, say they are now less likely to vote for the party while half said it has made no difference. However, the new Taoiseach will be encouraged by a finding that 36% of voters aged 18 to 34 are more likely to consider voting for Fine Gael with its new leader versus 22% who are less likely to do so.

Sinn Fein remains the most popular party, with support up one point in the poll to 27%. Fianna Fail is unchanged on 16%, while the Green Party is up one point to 6%.

Independents and others are down one to 16%, while the Social Democrats are down three points to 4%.

Labour and Solidarity-People Before Profit are both unchanged at 5% and 3%, respectively. Support for Aontu is down one point to 3%.

The poll was carried out between April 12 and 17, covering the first days of Harris’ premiership, with a sample size of 1,100 people.

Meanwhile, Green Party leader Eamon Ryan has warned the Taoiseach and Tanaiste against “raising false expectations” and “easy, false promises” over Budget spending pledges.

He told the Sunday Times: “There’s been so much promised, is there anything left in the kitty? We have to be careful about raising false expectations.”

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