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Immigration top issue noticed by voters when asked about Government performance

Voters have negative view of Coalition performance on immigration and housing

Pat Leahy Political Editor
Mon Jun 24 2024 - 06:00

Immigration is once again the issue that is most noticed by voters when asked about the Government’s performance, according to the latest monthly Snapshot poll by Ipsos for The Irish Times.

Voters have an overwhelmingly negative view of the Government’s performance on the issue, the research suggests.

It comes two weeks after the local and European elections, which showed positive results for both Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, and a major setback for the main opposition party Sinn Féin.

Immigration is the issue cited by over a quarter of voters (26 per cent), a decline of three points from last month. It is followed in prominence by housing, cited by 21 per cent, an increase of two points since last month.

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Housing is the number one issue noticed by voters in Dublin; outside the capital, immigration is the issue most cited.

These two issues – immigration and housing – dwarf any other issues that people notice about the Government.

Seven per cent of respondents cite the Israel/Palestine conflict – a sharp increase from just 2 per cent last month – perhaps explained by the recognition of Palestine confirmed by the Government late last month.

By contrast to the housing and immigration issues – where over 80 per cent of comments by respondents were negative towards the Government – 80 per cent of the comments about Palestine were positive.

Healthcare was mentioned by 4 per cent of respondents. Climate change, cost of living, employment, social policies and the political process were all cited by 3 per cent each, while education, crime, infrastructure and the change of leadership in the Government were mentioned by 2 per cent each.

The survey asks more than 1,000 respondents the following question: “What have you come across in what the Government has said or done recently that has made you think the country is going in the right or wrong direction?”

Their responses are then collated and sorted by issue and whether they view the Government in a positive or negative light as a result. A selection of their verbatim responses can be read in Monday’s Irish Times.

The data was collected using Omnipoll, Ipsos’s telephone omnibus survey which interviews a fresh, nationally representative sample of 1,000 adults aged 15-plus every two weeks. The sample used includes both mobile and landline phone numbers.

Pat Leahy

Pat Leahy

Pat Leahy is Political Editor of The Irish Times

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