Majority want President Higgins to seek second term - poll

A majority of voters think President Michael D Higgins should seek a second term but a significant minority believe he should not, according to the latest Irish Times/Ipsos MRBI poll.

When asked if they thought President Higgins should stand again when his current seven-year term ends in 2018, 58 per cent said he should, 36 per cent said he should not and 6 per cent had no opinion.

The biggest backing for the President standing again came from Labour supporters, while there was strong support among Fine Gael and Independent voters.

The strongest opposition came from Sinn Féin and Fianna Fáil voters.

In class terms, most support for a Higgins second term came from the most well-off AB voters and the greatest opposition came from the poorest DE social category, as well as from farmers.

Voters in Dublin were the keenest to see the President go for another term. The biggest opposition was from people in Connacht and Ulster.

The survey was conducted last Monday and Tuesday among a representative sample of 1,200 voters aged 18 and over in face-to-face interviews at 100 sampling points in all constituencies.

The margin of error is plus or minus 2.8 per cent.

Next election

President Higgins will be 77 at the time of the next presidential election.

During the 2011 campaign, he said he would not seek a second term. However, over the past year he has declined to rule it out.

Minister for Social Protection Leo Varadkar said last month that Mr Higgins would receive cross-party support if he sought a second term.