Source: RollingNews.ie

ALMOST ONE THIRD of people in Ireland do not want any of the current main political party leaders as the next Taoiseach, a new opinion poll has found.

Almost 30% of people surveyed said they do not want to see either Fine Gael leader and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald, Labour leader Brendan Howlin or Green Party leader Eamon Ryan lead the country after the General Election.

An election date of Saturday 8 February was announced yesterday, bringing an end to the 32nd Dáil.

The poll results – conducted by Amarách Research for TheJournal.ie, in which over 1,000 adults were surveyed – show that 20% of people want to see Leo Varadkar remain Taoiseach.

A further 15% said they’d like to see Micheál Martin lead the next Dáil with 11% saying they’d like to see Mary Lou McDonald as Taoiseach.

Of those surveyed, 3% said they’d like to see Eamon Ryan lead the Dáil with just 2% saying they’d like to see Brendan Howlin as Taoiseach.

The remaining 20% of people polled said they did not know which party leader they’d like to see lead the country after the General Election.

Source: Amárach Research

With the election date now known, the campaigning is well and truly underway, with election posters already being erected on poles around the country.

Preparations for this election have been happening for some time, with political parties having their election slogans ready to go once the starting pistol was fired.

Fine Gael has decided to go with “A Future to Look Forward To” as their election mantra. Fianna Fáil has opted for “An Ireland for All”.

People were surveyed for the poll across all age groups and regions.

The Taoiseach polled highest in Leinster (23%) but lowest in Munster (17%). Micheál Martin, meanwhile, polled lowest in Dublin (10%) but highest in his native Munster (19%).