Fine Gael’s Mairead McGuinness leads the field in a list of potential presidential election candidates, according to the latest Irish Times/Ipsos B&A opinion poll, though the results show nobody has yet caught the public imagination.
Asked who they would probably vote for in the presidential election, 14 per cent of respondents named Ms McGuinness, who secured her party’s nomination this week after emerging as the only potential candidate.
The two most popular choices in the poll were “none of the names so far appeal to me” on 18 per cent, and “not sure” on 20 per cent.
Ms McGuinness is followed by Independent TD Catherine Connolly, who announced her campaign this week, on 9 per cent, and Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald on 8 per cent.
Former taoiseach Bertie Ahern is on 5 per cent, while Taoiseach Micheál Martin was nominated by 4 per cent of respondents. Fianna Fáil is yet to put forward a candidate.
Other potential candidates – including Conor McGregor, Cynthia Ní Mhurchú, Éamon Ó Cuív, Fintan O’Toole, Frances Black, Gerry Adams, Mary Hanafin, Michelle O’Neill, Mike Ryan and Peter Casey – registered at between 1 and 3 per cent.
A number of other potential candidates – including Declan Ganley, Peter Power, Seán Gallagher and Tom Clonan – all registered less than 1 per cent.
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Voters are almost evenly divided on whether they would like the next president to be a current or former politician, or someone from a non-political background. Among those who expressed a view, 43 per cent said they would prefer a politician, with 41 per cent saying they would like a non-politician.
Six months after the Government was formed, voters were also asked about how they thought Ministers were performing.
The top performer was Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe, with almost half of voters (48 per cent) saying he was doing a “good job”. Just over a quarter (26 per cent) said he was doing a poor job, with a similar number stating they were “not sure”.
Mr Donohoe’s numbers give him a “net positive” rating of 22 points, putting him far ahead of most of his colleagues.
The poll also asked voters their choices for the next leaders of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Sinn Féin.
Mr Donohoe was the clear favourite to succeed Simon Harris as Fine Gael leader, with 29 per cent of all voters favouring him, ahead of 12 per cent for Helen McEntee and 8 per cent for Jennifer Carroll MacNeill. Among Fine Gael voters, 50 per cent nominate Mr Donohoe as their choice.
Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan is the favourite choice of all voters to be the next leader of Fianna Fáil (16 per cent), narrowly ahead of Jack Chambers and Darragh O’Brien. Almost a third (32 per cent) of Fianna Fáil voters prefer Mr O’Callaghan.
Pearse Doherty is regarded as the clear front-runner to be the next Sinn Féin leader, with the backing of 28 per cent of all voters, and 42 per cent among Sinn Féin voters.
The worst performer in the poll was Minister for Housing James Browne, whom 59 per cent of voters said was doing a poor job and has a net negative rating of 44 points.
Neither the Taoiseach nor the Tánaiste were included in the ministerial ratings, as their satisfaction ratings were recorded elsewhere in the poll, reported last Thursday.
The poll was conducted among a representative sample of adults aged 18 years and upwards across 120 sampling points throughout all constituencies.
The Irish Times/Ipsos B&A series is conducted through face-to-face sampling; personal in-home interviewing took place on July 14th and 15th. The number of interviews conducted was 1,200. The accuracy is estimated at plus or minus 2.8 per cent.
