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Leo is the new king of Ireland.
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25-01-2018 8:35am#1
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I generally disagree with a lot of this piplipLeos approval rating in a large part is down to his handling of Brexit. Irish people love sticking it to the Brits and DUP. This along with His comments about uniting Ireland, makes him the most republican leaning leader of FG in decades too. His retracted comments about being Taoiseach for those who get up early in the morning still resonates with those who are being fleeced for tax.
People in Dublin and the big cities are generally working again, when people are working they are less likely to go to the SF, PBP types as they do not want to be shafted on tax.
Brexit handling has certainly gone down well with him, but overall it's the economy. We're approaching full employment, people have money in their pockets, and the Government, despite being a minority, seems pretty capable of weathering rough seas like Brexit negotiations.
I think you have the "early in the morning" thing backwards. Those most irritated by it were those who pay the least tax; welfare recipients, lower waged, students, etc. Those who pay the most tax would have found his comment heartening - because they're the ones who "get up early in the morning".
There's a certain cohort of journalists who are just waiting to pounce on any speech and analyse it for potential "insensitivity" and then run with that. The perpetually outraged are easily stirred up - one comment I read asked, "What about those of us who don't start till midday?!". And if someone's comprehension of language is that poor, they're a lost cause.
Likewise the comments yesterday about mortgage deposits turned out to be a non-issue; outrage merchants doing their best to stir up outrage over honest and truthful commentary.
I think most people see through this nonsense tbh.0 -
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A bit of a triumph of style over substance. Napoleon would have loved him - he might be a good Taoiseach, but he's also lucky.
My own view is that his approval rating is based not so much anything he's done and more on stuff he's avoided doing, all the while having a nice profile built that suits the social media world we now inhabit.
Getting some criticism from the little-Englander type Brits and the DUP certainly helped broaden his appeal and maybe caused some of those who might be indifferent to be more disposed towards him. Getting that kind of criticism while also winding up SF is a pretty neat trick
On the plus side, it probably reduces even more the likelihood of an election - would FF risk the wrath of the electorate by pulling the plug? I sincerely doubt it. Which is a bit of change from a couple of months ago when plenty were predicting a Christmas GE. The fact that satisfaction with the government is also running at 44% (the highest since FG came to power in 2011) and that 58% of voters think the country is “generally going in the right direction” (34% disagree) reduces further the prospect of an election, imo.
It'll be interesting to see what knocks that rating (inevitably it will fall from such unsustainable heights) - maybe something from the Disclosures Tribunal? Until then, as long as he keeps the course on Brexit, keeps a lid on the bed crisis and keeps up the losing effort on housing he's probably in an unassailable position. He may even ride the wave of accelerating economic improvement to eclipse Bertie's rating.0 -
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A bit of a triumph of style over substance. Napoleon would have loved him - he might be a good Taoiseach, but he's also lucky.
My own view is that his approval rating is based not so much anything he's done and more on stuff he's avoided doing, all the while having a nice profile built that suits the social media world we now inhabit.
Getting some criticism from the little-Englander type Brits and the DUP certainly helped broaden his appeal and maybe caused some of those who might be indifferent to be more disposed towards him. Getting that kind of criticism while also winding up SF is a pretty neat trick
On the plus side, it probably reduces even more the likelihood of an election - would FF risk the wrath of the electorate by pulling the plug? I sincerely doubt it. Which is a bit of change from a couple of months ago when plenty were predicting a Christmas GE. The fact that satisfaction with the government is also running at 44% (the highest since FG came to power in 2011) and that 58% of voters think the country is “generally going in the right direction” (34% disagree) reduces further the prospect of an election, imo.
It'll be interesting to see what knocks that rating (inevitably it will fall from such unsustainable heights) - maybe something from the Disclosures Tribunal? Until then, as long as he keeps the course on Brexit, keeps a lid on the bed crisis and keeps up the losing effort on housing he's probably in an unassailable position. He may even ride the wave of accelerating economic improvement to eclipse Bertie's rating.
It is clear that Varadkar has charm and charisma that are certainly lacking in Martin and Mcdonald. In the past, this worked for the likes of Ahern and Haughey, even though they were corrupt and had incompetent policies. Arguably, they achieved a substantial voting bonus for FF because of it.
It will be interesting to see whether Varadkar can do the same for FG. He will be excused for his gaffes and so long as he has half-decent policies and avoids any whiff of corruption, I think he could increase the FG vote during a campaign when the advantage of charisma comes to the fore.0 -
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