Immigration and housing continue to dominate voters’ perceptions of the Government, the latest Ipsos Snapshot poll for The Irish Times shows.
When asked what they have noticed about what the Government has said or done recently, 21 per cent cited the issue of immigration, while 19 per cent nominated housing.
The two issues have dominated the monthly poll, which seeks to investigate perceptions of what the Government is doing since the beginning of this year. In every poll this year, they have occupied the top two positions. The immigration numbers this month rise by five points from 16 per cent in July, while housing declines marginally, by one point.
Only in Dublin – where 25 per cent of people cite housing and 20 per cent immigration – does housing remain in the number one position among the issues. Immigration is also more likely to be cited by male voters, older voters and working class voters.
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On both issues, more than three-quarters of voters have a negative view of the Government’s performance.
The survey does not investigate what people regard as the most important issue; rather it seeks to establish what people are noticing about what the Government is doing, and whether they have a positive or negative view of that.
Housing and immigration dominate the issues that voters are noticing. By comparison, others hardly get a look in. Just 5 per cent cite “social policies”, while 4 per cent mentioned the healthcare system or HSE. Cost-of-living/inflation, budget/spending, education, crime/gardaí were all nominated by 3 per cent, while climate change/sustainability, taxes, employment, democracy/political process and the Palestine-Israel conflict were mentioned by 2 per cent.
Snapshot is our monthly attention poll designed to track which Government messages are cutting through. It asks 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?”
Respondents’ answers are then collated and sorted by issue and whether they view the Government in a positive or negative light as a result.
This question is asked of 1,000 citizens each month. The data was collected using Omnipoll, Ipsos’s telephone omnibus survey which interviews a fresh, nationally representative sample of 1,000 adults aged 15+ every two weeks.
The sample used is RDD (random digit dialling) and includes both mobile and landline phone numbers. At analysis stage, the data is weighted in line with the known profile of the population according to the latest Central Statistics Office estimates.
The results presented here exclude those who said “don’t know/nothing/no opinion” to the question.
Fieldwork for the latest wave of Snapshot was conducted between August 1st and August 14th.
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