Looking at Things from the Left

Archive for the ‘Opinion Polls’ Category

Watch Out! – Dodgy Survey Suggests “Most Northern Ireland Catholics want to remain in UK”

Elizabethan Fun - Opinion Poll shows there are 12 million republicans in Great Britain

This Irish News headline caught my eye on the way to work this morning – “Most Catholics Want to Stay in the UK : Poll”.

A table on page 7 suggests a huge swing against a United Ireland among Catholics between the years 1998 and 2010 –

support for “staying part of the UK” rose from 19 to 52 per cent, while “Reunify with the Rest of Ireland” slumped from 49 per cent to 33 per cent.

Readers of this site know that we respect polls based on credible scientific research – how does this poll stand up?

Very badly is the blunt answer. Read the rest of this entry »

Written by tomasoflatharta

Jun 17, 2011 at 8:38 pm

Posted in Britain, Humour, Ireland, Opinion Polls, Prodestan, Queen Elizabeth II, Six County Elections 2011, Six County State, Unionism

The February 25 General Election changed something in Ireland

with 3 comments

The article below – by John Meehan –

has been published in the British Magazine Socialist Resistance :

http://socialistresistance.org/1775/70-votes-for-socialism

Writing in the North American online magazine Counterpunch Harry Browne zoned in on two key features on the Irish February 25 2011 General Election Result

Same Old at the Top – but Irish Election Makes Room for the Left

Same Old, Same Old at the Top, But – Irish Election Makes Room for the Left

The same old :

A Fine Gael / Labour coalition takes over the government after 14 years of Fianna Fáil rule. Since 1932, Fianna Fáil have been the governing party for 61 out of 79 years. They have won 19 out of 25 General Elections. On the rare occasions Fine Gael dominated coalitions have come to power the smaller right-wing party never held on longer than one term in office.

That said, the scale of the 2011 Fianna Fáil defeat is without precedent Read the rest of this entry »

Written by tomasoflatharta

Mar 10, 2011 at 7:30 pm

Posted in Fianna Fáil, Financial Crisis (September 2008 onwards), Fine Gael, General Election 2011, Green Party, Ireland, Labour Party, Opinion Polls, People Before Profit, Sinn Féin, Socialist Party, United Left Alliance

Why Does The Irish Labour Party Seek Fine Gael’s Kiss-of-Death?

with 4 comments

In the last days of the 2011 Irish General Election Campaign Labour Party leaders and spinners are warning that the voters might choose a Fine Gael single party government. Their alternative? : Coalition – Fine Gael’s Enda Kenny for Taoiseach, Labour’s Eamon Gilmore the Tánaiste – that’s the message.

SIPTU leader Jack O’Connor, for example, claims “that a coalition government would be far preferable as the country imposes spending cuts as part of its EU and IMF bailout.

“If you look at the lessons of history, they (Fine Gael) haven’t been in government on their own since 1927 when their predecessor Cumann na nGaedheal was in government,”….

“They pursued policy which resulted in economic stagnation for 60 years. And that’s the kind of policy that’s being advocated by both of the centre-right parties at the present time.”

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/02/15/ireland-politics-union-idUKLDE71E2C620

First – is a single-party Fine Gael government possible or likely?

We will know for sure on Saturday February 26 – at the time of writing, if the polls are right, a single party Fine Gael government is possible but unlikely.

http://politicalreform.ie/2011/02/22/seat-estimates-for-irish-independent-millward-brown-lansdowne-opinion-poll-23rd-february/#more-2337

A second factor is political – many Fine Gael backers, for example the former party leader Garret FitzGerald, argue that coalition with Labour is a better tactical option for this right-wing party. Read the rest of this entry »

Written by tomasoflatharta

Feb 23, 2011 at 12:32 pm