Where are Fianna Fail supporters hiding?

wretcheddomain

According to the latest poll, 27% of those polled would re-elect Fianna Fail without a second thought:

A new opinion poll shows support for Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael is neck and neck at 27%.

The Millward Brown poll for tomorrow's Sunday Independent indicates a four point increase in support for Fine Gael.

This poll was carried out over 12 days finishing last Tuesday.

979 adults around the country took part in the poll.

The proportion of undecided voters remains high, at 33%.

When undecided voters are excluded, support for Fine Gael is up four points since the last Sunday Independent poll a fortnight ago, at 27%.

Labour has dropped one point to 11% since the last poll, while Fianna Fáil is up one, to 27%, the same as Fine Gael.

Sinn Féin support is down two to 17%, while Independents and Others are down one to 18%.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2013/0601/454051-opinion-poll/

So where are they hiding? Nobody I know would ever vote for them and when you read comments around internet forums, Facebook, Twitter and the like, you find mass condemnation but yet somehow they're almost the most favourite party in the country.

Or am I just lucky that I don't know any of these supporters! :pac:

oppenheimer1

What do you mean "without a second thought"? We are at mid term in the current governments life and an election isn't looming.

I imagine people would have put very little thought into their answers to a polling company. A poll isn't an election.

DEFTLEFTHAND

Did you think that they'd die out? FF will restructure and be back, their membership nationwide is still large.

donegal_road

they are out there alright. I know a few that will still vote FF, for the simple reason that 'my father voted for them' (and seeing as I am incapable of independent thought, I will vote for them too)

FF lost a lot of their support to SF in Donegal during the last election.

Zebra3

Two things need to be crushed in this country before it can advance.

FF/FG (same party really, just two different brands) and the RC church.

Sunnyisland

There hiding behind the don't knows.

donegal_road

Zebra3 wrote: »

Two things need to be crushed in this country before it can advance.

FF/FG (same party really, just two different brands) and the RC church.

yep, its the 'illusion of choice'... Coca Cola vs Pepsi

wretcheddomain

oppenheimer1 wrote: »

What do you mean "without a second thought"? We are at mid term in the current governments life and an election isn't looming.

I imagine people would have put very little thought into their answers to a polling company. A poll isn't an election.

Yes - it's definitely without a second thought. As far as I can see, no worthwhile so-called restructuring has taken place and many of the current TD's were from the ilk of the previous regime. And no, I don't believe that people randomly decide to tell a polling company, 'oh yeh, today I like Fianna Fail', it's not as simple as you make out.

kowloon

donegal_road wrote: »

yep, its the 'illusion of choice'... Coca Cola vs Pepsi

I'm all good with people saying FG and FF are the same thing, but Pepsi and Coke are very different drinks goddammit!:mad:

cletus van damme

Zebra3 wrote: »

Two things need to be crushed in this country before it can advance.

FF/FG (same party really, just two different brands) and the RC church.

ffs this **** is tiresome

next you'll be telling me how to vote..

....and you forgot to blame the bankers cos everyone of them did everything that was ever wrong ever, maybe we'll kill them all and their families in case their kids inherited the same ideals

wretcheddomain

cletus van damme wrote: »

ffs this **** is tiresome

next you'll be telling me how to vote..

....and you forgot to blame the bankers cos everyone of them did everything that was ever wrong ever, maybe we'll kill them all and their families in case their kids inherited the same ideals

You haven't told us why the OP was wrong though.

meeeeh

Zebra3 wrote: »

Two things need to be crushed in this country before it can advance.

FF/FG (same party really, just two different brands) and the RC church.

If the alternative is SF, then all I can say thank god those two are still around. Oh and that's coming from an outsider.

FF is the strongest among over sixties. They tend to stick to familiar stuff. I'm guessing not too many of them are on twitter or FB.

hfallada

I imagine FF got advice and did what any major company involved in a scadal did. Shut up and say nothing and hope everyone forgots. Let the other parties make a show of themselves and just watch. A few years later they don't look bad compared to the mess fg/labour inherited and can't seem to improve in anyway

goose2005

wretcheddomain wrote: »

Nobody I know would ever vote for them and when you read comments around internet forums, Facebook, Twitter and the like, you find mass condemnation but yet somehow they're almost the most favourite party in the country.

Internet people tend to be young and more educated. FFers aren't.

DEFTLEFTHAND

Is it time for FF and FG to merge? Or would that be considered a threat to democracy in this country?

Anyone

I know this is going to be a shock to you OP, but the majority of voters dont use facebook,twitter,boards etc.

Zebra3

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

Is it time for FF and FG to merge? Or would that be considered a threat to democracy in this country?

It would strengthen democracy if anything.

As it stands, they don't really differ that much.

Both right-wing parties who look after the elite, first and foremost, only FF have been in power for more time so were handier for bribing.

Both FF and FG joined together in the late 80s to stop a Workers Party motion that proposed investigating planning corruption in Dublin Corpo (now Dublin City Council).

Attitudes like that run through the veins of the supporters of both parties.

Dyr

they should be a proscribed organisation. Mebership of fianna fail made illegal under the offences against the state act

Murt10

It will be interesting to see how they do in Dublin next time round.

Not a single deputy and I hope it stays that way. The fact that they left Mickey Martin, who sat at the cabinet table during all the bubble, says it all for me.

Hell will freeze over......

wretcheddomain

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

Is it time for FF and FG to merge?

Fianna Fail + Fine Gael = Fina Fael?

Isn't that what Pierce Doherty calls them anyway !? :pac:

MRnotlob606

i was a member of ogra fianna fail

Paramite Pie

Anyone wrote: »

I know this is going to be a shock to you OP, but the majority of voters dont use facebook,twitter,boards etc.

And a large portion of those who do use Facebook/Twitter don't vote. We young'uns need to cop the feck on....:pac:

I vote on who i would feel would do a better Job. I think Fianna Fail would do a better job then Fine Gael.

Hell Mike Tyson was done for Rape , but if he turned up for a security job i would hire him.

For Forks Sake

MRnotlob606 wrote: »

i was a member of ogra fianna fail

Seek help.

Soft Falling Rain

Deleted User wrote: »

I vote on who i would feel would do a better Job. I think Fianna Fail would do a better job then Fine Gael.

Hell Mike Tyson was done for Rape , but if he turned up for a security job i would hire him.

Not sure I'm getting the part where Fianna Fail are the Mike Tyson of politics?

aoraki

Deleted User wrote: »

I vote on who i would feel would do a better Job. I think Fianna Fail would do a better job then Fine Gael.

Hell Mike Tyson was done for Rape , but if he turned up for a security job i would hire him.

Only one political party in the history of the state has ever managed to bankrupt the state. FF have done it on more than 1 occasion, the most recent being the most devastating with the loss of economic sovereignity, the banking system collapsing, the troika coming in, emigration going through the roof, a raft of social issues as a result, and all the gobsh1tes that presided over the sorry mess swanning off into the sunset on unbelievable pensions and golden handshakes. No other party in the history of the state has ever managed to completely screw things up like Fianna Fail have done.

But by all means, go ahead and vote for them because "they would do a better job". Lets face it, you're probably a Fianna-Failer-til-I-die who would vote for them no matter how badly they fcuked up. There's loads of them out there, so why not just be honest about it?

And just to be clear, in case you think I am shilling for another political party, I have absolutely no time for Fine Gael, Labour, SF or any other political party - they are all useless. But none of them are as culpaple as Fianna Fail are.

The Narrator

I'm abstaining from voting at this stage.

Different parties, same kind of fools.

SmurfX

Among the young contrarian demographic who feel it appropriate to share their political views and criticise others for theirs across such hives of intelligent discussion as facebook, twitter and After Hours it's no shock that the dominant party represented is Sinn Fein, even less of a shock that they aren't representative.
Most people who vote conservatively view politics pragmatically and not as a hobby they enjoy discussing at their leisure.

eigrod

There is a thread over on the Politics forum which suggests that Mary Coughlan and John O Donoghue are preparing the groundwork to run again in the next election

BattleCorp

It's all the auld wans that would vote for FF simply because it's what they always have done.

MRnotlob606

still vote ff

DeanAustin

[Deleted User] wrote: »

I vote on who i would feel would do a better Job. I think Fianna Fail would do a better job then Fine Gael.

Hell Mike Tyson was done for Rape , but if he turned up for a security job i would hire him.

Why do you think they would do a better job?

CFlat

For Forks Sake wrote: »

Seek help.

Ah, that was a typing error, he mean't to say Ogre Fianna Fail.

Bog Standard User

those 27% are probably relatives of ff party members

Bog Standard User

wretcheddomain wrote: »

Fianna Fail + Fine Gael = Fina Fael?

Isn't that what Pierce Doherty calls them anyway !? :pac:

i call them that too

Chucken

MRnotlob606 wrote: »

i was a member of ogra fianna fail

BattleCorp wrote: »

It's all the auld wans that would vote for FF simply because it's what they always have done.

Really?

Sir Humphrey Appleby

Bog Standard User wrote: »

those 27% are probably relatives of ff party members

Then the party must growing hugely, or else they had a lot of pissed off relatives when they were on 16%!

glass_onion

Voting them out has worked in their favour. This current gov will be known as one who introduced all these taxes and other sort of revenue collections,along with many of the cut backs on certain sectors. Of course some people might have forgotten who got us into this situation in the first place. And it's easy for FF to criticize from the opposition because they are not the ones cleaning up the mess.

Bog Standard User

Bah Feckin Humbug! wrote: »

Then the party must growing hugely, or else they had a lot of pissed off relatives when they were on 16%!

its the recession... people out of work have too much spare time... so shagging all around them.

Foxhound38

wretcheddomain wrote: »

According to the latest poll, 27% of those polled would re-elect Fianna Fail without a second thought:



http://www.rte.ie/news/2013/0601/454051-opinion-poll/

So where are they hiding? Nobody I know would ever vote for them and when you read comments around internet forums, Facebook, Twitter and the like, you find mass condemnation but yet somehow they're almost the most favourite party in the country.

Or am I just lucky that I don't know any of these supporters! :pac:

Their particular brand of gobsh*tery, waffle, corruption, lack of principle and gombeen parish-pump me fein-ism is unfortunately written like DNA into the political psyche of the Irish nation. Notice that the only time FG, Labour and now even SF get anywhere in terms of increasing their political support is when they adopt the tactics and mannerisms of FF - but those pretending to be FF will never measure up to the real thing, and that is why aside from minor blips in government (generally to clean up a mess FF made out of things), other parties in this country will *always* be playing second fiddle to them.

While they structurally personify the absolute worst aspects of the Irish political animal, they know how to bring that side out in the electorate, and that is why they win. It was *never* a question of "if" when it came to their resurrection after the dust settled on 2011, only a question of "how quick". The Labour Party has a lot to answer for too here - they came second in 2011, they were provided with the best and perhaps only chance anyone will ever have of killing off FF by starving it of oxygen if they chose to lead the Opposition instead of play mudguard for FG in Government.

FF didn't just define and write our political culture - they own it, even if it is held in care by other parties of Government at the moment.

I dispair of this place sometimes...

Sh1tbag OToole

glass_onion wrote: »

Voting them out has worked in their favour. This current gov will be known as one who introduced all these taxes and other sort of revenue collections,along with many of the cut backs on certain sectors. Of course some people might have forgotten who got us into this situation in the first place. And it's easy for FF to criticize from the opposition because they are not the ones cleaning up the mess.

FG arent really cleaning up the mess they are just following the clean up plan set out by FF and the troika before they got elected

renegademaster

eigrod wrote: »

There is a thread over on the Politics forum which suggests that Mary Coughlan and John O Donoghue are preparing the groundwork to run again in the next election

this in part extends from those who feel angry at the possibility of fianna fail getting back in but do nothing about it, a simple taking to the streets for a time would show those who are welcome in Irish politics and who is not, with no opposition from any of the public, ever, sure why wouldn't they all run amok

eigrod

renegademaster wrote: »

this in part extends from those who feel angry at the possibility of fianna fail getting back in but do nothing about it, a simple taking to the streets for a time would show those who are welcome in Irish politics and who is not, with no opposition from any of the public, ever, sure why wouldn't they all run amok

To be honest, a demonstration in the polling booth is far more effective. Unfortunately, however, I feel there are enough people in many constituencies to vote these people in, irrespective of what they did to the country over a 20 year period.

The only hope is that FF won't get the preferences they used to get that gave them so many extra seats.

Captain Farrell

goose2005 wrote: »

Internet people tend to be young and more educated. FFers aren't.

yhuu r soo rite. wE iS Da eDuKateD PeEpz.

BeB0 sTunNahz 2k14!!!

Lyk iv yHuu KrIed xx

Balmed Out

Whatever about ff I cannot stand people banging on about sinn fein. Will we ever learn. The only difference between ff before they fell and sinn fein today is friendliness with developers. The same bull shopping list attitude to getting votes.

Foxhound38

Balmed Out wrote: »

Whatever about ff I cannot stand people banging on about sinn fein. Will we ever learn. The only difference between ff before they fell and sinn fein today is friendliness with developers. The same bull shopping list attitude to getting votes.

Agreed - there is feck all difference between FF and SF in terms of policy, and the hilarious thing is that people can actually SEE that that is how they operate by looking a few miles up the road. The biggest difference at the moment between FF and SF is that while very few people would admit to being a FF voter online, SF seems to have legions of trolls on discussion boards shilling for the Party. I don't know which is more infuriating tbh.

A lot of people are in for a rude awakening when SF gets brought into government (I say when because them joining a coalition at some point in the near future is almost an inevitability) - people think they're disappointed with Labour? Just wait till they see SF in action!