Sixty four per cent of voters in the East European Parliament constituency are dissatisfied with the performance of the Government, according to an opinion poll published tonight.
The poll, conducted by Lansdowne Market Research for RTE's Prime Timeand the Irish Examinernewspaper, showed Fianna Fáil's Mr Liam Aylward leading the pack with 23 per cent of the vote in the constituency, formerly Leinster.
Ms Avril Doyle of Fine Gael recorded 19 per cent, Ms Mairéad McGuiness of Fine Gael 14.7 per cent, Mr Peter Cassells of Labour 14.3 per cent followed by Fianna Fáil's Mr Seamus Kirk (8 per cent), Ms Mary White of the Green Party (8 per cent), Sinn Féin's Mr John Dwyer (7 per cent), and Independent candidate Justin Barrett (2 per cent).
Some 34 per cent of those surveyed said they would give their first preference vote in the European election to Fine Gael, followed by Fianna Fáil who would get 31 per cent, Labour (14 per cent), Greens (8 per cent), Sinn Féin (7 per cent) and Independents (6 per cent).
In the local elections 37 per cent of respondents said they would give their first preference to Fianna Fáil, while 27 per cent said they would be supporting a Fine Gael candidate. Labour attracted 9 per cent of first preferences, as did Sinn Féin, followed closely by the Green Party, who scored 8 per cent. The Progressive Democrats attracted 2 per cent of first preference votes and Others 8 per cent.
The sample size of the survey was 542 aged 18 or over, representative of the total population of the East constituency in terms of gender, age, social class and region. The margin of error is estimated to be plus or minus 4.4 per cent.
All interviews were conducted face-to-face yesterday and the day before. A mock ballot paper methodology was used to calculate voter preference and transfer patterns.