Farewell, Leo? Varadkar crisis as support PLUMMETS – shock Irish election poll

With less than two weeks until polling day, confidence in the Taoseach (Irish prime minister) has plummeted. This was indicated by a number of polls of potential Irish election voters. One poll conducted by the Irish Mail on Sunday revealed Mr Varadkar’s Fine Gael party had dropped in popularity by six points.

A survey of 1,031 potential voters was carried out between January 16 to January 25.

Just 22 percent of those asked said they were backing Mr Varadkar and Fine Gael.

Fianna Fáil came top of the poll with 27 percent of the votes, gaining two points since November.

Sinn Fein came in just behind Fine Gael with 20 percent of the votes, increasing their support by five points.

A second poll also indicated a shock defeat for the Mr Varadkar and his ruling party.

The Sunday Business Post survey conducted by Red C showed Mr Varadkar’s party had its lowest ever rating with him as leader.

It showed support for Fine Gael had fallen seven percentage points to 23 percent since its last poll in November.

This is the first time Mr Varadkar’s party has fallen behind in the Red C poll series since he came to power in 2017.

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The poll showed just 12 percent felt Fine Gael was the best party equipped to handle Ireland’s housing crisis over the next five years.

This was just half the level of those who chose Fianna Fail.

With no party close to the support required for a majority, at least two parties will likely need to cooperate to form a government.

Mr Varadkar said he was willing to work with a minority Fianna Fáil Government.

He vowed to work with opposition leader Micheal Martin, or any other party except for Sinn Fein, if Fine Gael failed to secure enough votes.

In the first TV debate since the election was called, Mr Varadkar was slammed for his party’s record in Government over the last nine years.

Mr Martin said: “We believe there is a need for a new government.

“Our country needs a new government that will put aside the obsession with party politics.

“I am looking forward to talking about real change.”

Mr Varadkar claimed his party had “shown we can work with other parties” and “shown we can put governments together” as he declared “my preference is to form a coalition”.

The general election will take place on February 8.

source: express.co.uk