A FINE Gael-Labour coalition is the most favoured outcome of the election, according to the latest Irish Times/Ipsos MRBI poll which shows an almost equal three-way split between the main party leaders as the preferred choice for taoiseach.
Asked which of a number of coalition options they would like to see emerge after the election, 34 per cent opted for Fine Gael and Labour, 11 per cent favoured Fine Gael and Independents while 9 per cent wanted Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil.
Support for a coalition involving Labour, Sinn Féin and left-leaning parties and Independents came in at 12 per cent. Fianna Fáil and Labour attracted 8 per cent support.
Asked which of the coalition options they believed was likely to form the next government 41 per cent opted for Fine Gael and Labour, far ahead of any of the others.
Only 5 per cent of voters thought a Fianna Fáil-Fine Gael coalition likely; 4 per cent went for Fine Gael and Independents; and 3 per cent went for Labour, Sinn Féin and left-wing Independents.
Asked who they would prefer to see as taoiseach after the election Eamon Gilmore attracted 26 per cent support, followed by Enda Kenny on 24 per cent and Micheál Martin on 23 per cent.
Mr Gilmore has dropped 17 per cent since the last Irish Timespoll six weeks ago when voters were asked whether they would prefer to see him or Enda Kenny head an alternative government. Mr Kenny is down 4 per cent since that poll. Among voters who say they will not change their minds by election day, Mr Kenny leads with 32 per cent, followed by Mr Gilmore on 30 per cent and Mr Martin on 21 per cent.
The poll was taken on Monday and Tuesday of this week among a representative sample of 1,000 voters aged 18 and over, in face-to-face interviews at 100 sampling points in all 43 constituencies. The margin of error is plus or minus 3 per cent.
An overwhelming majority of voters believe Brian Cowen was right to resign as party leader before the election. Ninety per cent said he was right to go, while just 6 per cent felt he should have stayed on. Seventy-seven per cent felt he should also have resigned as Taoiseach when he stepped down.
Asked about the Green Party’s decision to leave Government, 16 per cent said it was the right thing to do, 55 per cent said the party should have done it sooner and 17 per cent said the party should have stayed on.
Voters identified jobs as easily the most important issue, while the state of the public finances was regarded as the next most important issue.
Issues like political reform and political accountability were far behind in terms of public priority.
Fifty-one per cent of those polled identified jobs as the most important issue, with the youngest age group most concerned.
The state of the public finances was chosen as the most important issue by 23 per cent of voters.
In party terms, Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil voters were most concerned about the public finances. Labour voters are a little less concerned and Sinn Féin voters considerably less so.
A majority of voters do not believe that the election of a new government will improve the economic situation.
Fine Gael voters were significantly more hopeful than average with 54 per cent saying things would improve under a new government.
There is an expectation that a new government will be able to renegotiate the EU-IMF bailout. Some 49 per cent thought it would be possible to renegotiate the deal while 39 per cent thought not.
