SINN Féin has widened its lead over the DUP and is poised to emerge as the comfortable winner of Thursday’s assembly elections, a new opinion poll predicts.
Sir Jeffrey Donaldson’s party is 6 percentage points behind its main nationalist rival and neck-and-neck with the Alliance on 18.2 per cent, according to the latest polling by the Institute of Irish Studies at the University of Liverpool.the irish news.
According to the poll, Sinn Féin won 26.6 per cent of the first preference vote, reflecting a slight drop in support compared to the last assembly election, but still leaving Michelle O’Neill as a clear favorite to be prime minister.
The DUP is down 2 percentage points from last month’s corresponding poll, while Alliance has enjoyed a surge in support, likely to be boosted by its ease of transfer.
Read more: Institute of Irish Studies-University of Liverpool/the irish news Results of the test
If the poll’s findings were repeated on Thursday, it would mean that two out of five people who gave the DUP a first preference vote in 2017 have switched allegiances.
Based on responses from 1,270 people surveyed between April 16 and 26, the survey provides the most up-to-date assessment of the state of affairs with the parties days before Thursday’s crucial election.
It suggests support for the Ulster Unionists has slipped back since the previous poll, with Doug Beattie’s party now sitting at 12.1 per cent, while the SDLP has seen a modest 0.2 point rise to 10.5. percent.
The poll suggests that support for Jim Allister’s TUV has risen in recent months and now stands at 5.7 percent, its highest level yet at the University of Liverpool’s Institute of Irish Studies.the irish news series of surveys.
Both the Greens and People Before Profit have enjoyed a boost in support compared to the corresponding poll last month, sitting at 2.9 percent and 2.1 percent, respectively.
Professor Peter Shirlow, from the University of Liverpool’s Institute of Irish Studies, said Sinn Féin appeared to be on course to top the poll, but the rise in the midterm suggested a significant electoral shift.
“Thursday will see people elected by a slim margin and for Sinn Féin and the DUP, a potential challenge from the Alliance, Greens, People Before Profit and independents, who can perform much better than before,” he said.
“In fact, if these parties can get close to 20 percent of the overall vote, then we are entering a new period where constitutional politics is less attractive. If that is the case, then the story of this election is step go ahead”. to parties that two decades ago could hardly count on one in 10 voters”.
However, the director of the Institute of Irish Studies did not rule out a “late meeting” of the DUP.
“It’s only a few days away and they’re pushing hard to mobilize voters to go beyond their concerns and vote,” he said.
“Sinn Féin is running a low-key campaign and running Michelle O’Neill as the prime minister-in-waiting, but no one expects the combined Sinn Féin and DUP vote to be as high as 2017, which in itself itself will say a lot about a changing electorate.”
:: The survey was conducted by Social Market Research Belfast and has a margin of error of 3.1+/-.
Reference-www.irishnews.com