The Taoiseach admitted he was "disappointed" by the results of The Irish Timesopinion poll published yesterday and said he preferred "waking up to good news".
The poll found that Fianna Fáil had suffered a big drop in support since the general election (down nine percentage points to 33 per cent), while Mr Ahern's satisfaction rating had declined by 15 percentage points to 43 per cent.
Mr Ahern yesterday contrasted the findings with other research carried out last week and published last weekend which put the Government's popularity just below general election levels.
Claiming the sudden drop in support for his coalition had occurred in just a few days, he cited three main reasons and suggested some Government decisions could have been better handled. He also denied that his appearances at the Mahon tribunal were a major contributory factor.
"There was a ministerial independent review award which covered me and covered everybody else . . . which had a very strong hit on us. There was the issue of the provisional licences which definitely struck up a big issue. Then there was the issues around Shannon and the various inquiries - they happened within those few days. So an opinion poll is always a shot in time and those three events obviously had a negative issue for us."
Speaking at Derry's Guildhall during a visit to the northwest, Mr Ahern stressed the strength of the Coalition and its unity of purpose and insisted he would never place too much emphasis on a single opinion poll finding.
"But we have to get on with the job, work harder, keep focused, keep all my colleagues working," he said. "We're a very strong Government and we are a very strong united party so we have to get on with the issues."
Mr Ahern suggested that rises and falls in personal popularity were simply part and parcel of everyday politics.
"You know, when [ a personal poll rating] goes up it's because of some good initiative by somebody else. When it goes down it's my fault. But I've been around for long enough to understand that."
However, he did suggest that some of the Government's actions of the past week could have been better handled.
"I think it is quite clear, we have our own tracking, we were only marginally down and there were a few things done last week. Perhaps some of them were within our control, perhaps some were outside our control and we get a hit for that. But we work in the long term, a lot of what we're doing is in the long term. We acknowledge that, and it just drives us to work harder."
Asked by The Irish Times if he thought the Mahon tribunal hearings had dampened his personal poll rating, Mr Ahern said: "No. We had the figures, there was a poll last Sunday and I haven't been there [ at the Mahon tribunal] since last Sunday.
"Everything is a factor, there are bigger issues there. In our own tracking I know exactly where we were last week in the Sunday Business Post and I know where we are this week."
Minister for Health Mary Harney, speaking to reporters at a conference in Dublin Castle, said: "I think measures of public opinion at any one time obviously respond to the events of the day whatever they may be.
"And there were a number of events over the last weekend which may have had a bearing, I don't know, may have had a bearing on the poll results."