A poll conducted by Trinity News shows the Social Democrats to be the most popular Irish political party among Trinity Students for the fourth consecutive year.
Nearly a quarter of all students (24.6%) said that if a general election were held tomorrow, they would give the Social Democrats their first preference vote. Sinn Féin reclaimed the second spot with a 17.1% share, having fallen behind People Before Profit-Solidarity (PBP) in last year’s poll.
PBP was the third most popular party at 15.3%.
Although both remain popular amongst students, Sinn Féin’s and PBP-Solidarity’s respective shares of the vote have fallen since last year, when Sinn Féin received 17.9% of the vote, and PBP-solidarity received 16.9%, a near 2% decrease in support for the party.
For the first time since before the pandemic, polling was conducted in person as well as online, with a sample size of 642 for this question, larger than in the previous three years.
Those who supported current government parties represented 21.2% of the respondents, versus 67% of students who supported parties not involved in the current coalition. Of the governmental parties, Fine Gael received the highest percentage of support with 10.4%, followed by the Green party at 8.9% with Fianna Fáil proving least popular, polling at just 2.8%.
Nearly 9% of students said they would not vote in the next election or spoil their ballot (8.7%), and 6.23% indicated that they would vote for an independent candidate.
The rise in Social Democrat support on campus could be explained by the stewardship of Holly Cairns. Last year the poll was conducted prior to her appointment as leader, and indicated a support of 20.1%. A significant 4% swing in favour of the Social democrats likely indicates a combination of increased disdain towards government, and apathy towards Sinn Fein among students, with Cairns’ clear messaging providing an appealing alternative.
With the possibility of a general election in 2024, our polling indicates low support for the government among students, but division among their preferred alternatives.
