DUP and Sinn Féin supporters have expressed a significant amount of confidence in the performances of Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness and First Minister, the Rev Ian Paisley.
A new poll discloses that 54 per cent of Sinn Féin voters believe Dr Paisley is doing a good job while 48 per cent of DUP voters say Mr McGuinness is performing well in his post.
The approval rating in the Belfast Telegraph/MORI poll appears quite significant given that the overall public expectation eight months ago about the prospects of Dr Paisley and Mr McGuinness working together was low.
In a similar November/December poll 58 per cent thought the leaders would not work well together with 24 per cent believing they could. But in this latest survey 66 per cent of the public believed the leaders were doing a good job.
Just 7 per cent of 1,004 respondents thought Dr Paisley was performing very or fairly poorly with 8 per cent having the same view of Mr McGuinness. Overall 51 per cent thought Dr Paisley was doing a very good or fairly good job. The figure for Mr McGuinness was 47 per cent. A total of 63 per cent of DUP supporters say Dr Paisley is working well; 69 per cent of Sinn Féin supporters have the same view of Mr McGuinness.
Dr Paisley had an approval rating of 57 per cent from the Ulster Unionist Party and the SDLP. Mr McGuinness had an approval rating of 48 per cent from the UUP and 61 per cent from the SDLP.
When the figures are broken down 54 per cent of Protestants are impressed with Dr Paisley's performance against a Catholic approval rating of 50 per cent; 44 per cent of Protestants rate Mr McGuinness approvingly compared with the Catholic figure of 55 per cent.
