Survey of Leitrim voters reveals major surprise on which party is the most popular

Ahead of this Friday's General Election, reporters and photographers from the Leitrim Observer have been out and about bringing you the latest from the campaign trail.

In addition to gauging people’s views in local communities, towns and villages, we have also conducted a number of online polls - on www.leitrimlive.ie - where we asked potential voters to answer a number of simple questions.

Early on in the campaign, we asked what the most important issue is for voters in County Leitrim.

Of the choices offered, immigration and health were clearly the issues of most concern to those who responded and took part in the poll.

As the General Election campaign progressed, the state of the economy came to the fore nationally so we asked people what they think has impacted their standard of living the most?

There was no clear consensus among those polled as the final result was split almost evenly between inflation and the increased cost of living; the increase in house prices and monthly rents; and the energy crisis which has seen domestic electricity and gas bills soar over the past two years.

When it comes to the campaign itself, more than half (60%) of those polled stated the first Leaders’ Debate on RTÉ, featuring representatives from ten political parties and groups, will not have any influence on how they vote on Friday while the remaining 40% indicated the debate will be a factor in their decision. 

The final poll, which was conducted seven days before polling day, asked people which political party they were likely to vote for on November 29.

The Green Party was the clear winner among those who voted in the poll with Fine Gael coming in in second place. Completing the top five were Fianna Fail, Sinn and Aontú.

On Friday, voters in Leitrim will be asked to elect four TDs to the 34th Dáil, to represent the Sligo-Leitrim constituency, which has an overall population of almost 115,000.

Voting takes place - at polling stations across both counties - between 7am and 10pm.

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