NI Dec 22 Assembly Election

Ordinarily you'd expect some kind of backlash against the parties who ensured that parliament could not convene. However, there's a counter argument that both the DUP & TUV are already down to their core vote and this is exactly what their core voters wanted them to do.

Turnout might be the defining variable, given that the last election was only in May. The last parliament didn't even sit and that might breed some voter apathy with some voters, particularly from the non-sectarian parties.

There's only been 2 polls and they appear to show similar enough numbers to what the parties polled in the May election (apart from one of the polls showing the DUP with a +3% bump).

So maybe DUP to win a seat or two back from the Alliance but probably not a lot of changes.

Surely there will be some backlash against the DUP for their behaviour over the last 6 months? They've gone all-in against the NIP to capture the the rabid TUV vote, to the detriment of any moderate support they may have had. Don't think they are going to gain back any floating voters from UUP or Alliance with the shenanigans since the summer.

Surely a backlash or at least antipathy towards the DUP.

Only a complete fool can't see this is their fault and they have been a disaster since Brexit.

If the people of Northern Ireland do not show their anger at the disgraceful contempt shown by the DUP then frankly they deserve everything they get.

Just say for hypothetical sake if the DUP are returned as the biggest party, I'm just a bit curious of what they do. Will they continue their absence from Stormont or will they actually try and form an executive because quite frankly if it's the latter that's probably going to end power sharing for good as we can all see what their actual motive in the last 6 months have actually been about.

I would think most if not all the DUP voters support their actions and will stay with them .I wonder will the Unionist vote be better managed this time just to make the DUP the largest even if they stay out of things . It really sickened them the last time with SF being the leading party so I would expect a bit of coming together to end that. Really can't see a huge shift in the votes overall with two sides with completely different outlooks .Also think most Alliance are Unionists if push comes to shove .

Not necessarily. They have 11 more weeks to hold the election. That allows them to hold one in January.

I wouldn't fancy having to campaign in January!

The DUP are being sidelined/thrown under the bus again. The world will move on without them again.

At what stage does it because inaccurate for us to say "thrown under" the bus.

It happens so often that surely it is now "existing prone on the road waiting for the next bus". Its not like they have even gotten up since the last bus. They are at this stage road furniture.