Presidential Election.

Assuming Gavins transfers will go to Humphries that's 37% for Humphries

Game on!

No guarantee that's going to happen. There's lads out there voting for Gavin for 'de craic'.

Its very hard to get excited about any of the candidates.

I think a large portion of the don't know won't vote. They're not saying don't know because they are still trying to figure out how to vote for and still need to listen to their campaigns. It's because neither genuinely appeal to them and as it's the president, with limited influence, they will leave it to others to decide.

I'm only a small sample size, but doubt I'm unique. Most of my family and friends won't end up voting at all. Won't vote for Government candidate and no interest in voting for Connolly. So will just stay away. I was part of the previous poll and one of the don't knows. I'm 99% sure I won't be voting.

And I reckon any one still voting for Gavin is only putting a single vote on the ballot. Don't think transfers will be a thing. And probably lots of Gavin voters who just won't bother voting at all either. The number that will row in behind HH won't be enough.

The next President will be a woman, and she will represent us on the world stage, that we can all agree on. With Catherine Connolly being the current Fave, do her personal opinions and biases matter?

Every opinion will be scrutinised, every utterance picked up on. She will be under the spotlight at home and abroad. Question is, can she park her personal bias for seven years? Gaza and genocide are words that come to mind when thinking of Catherine Connolly, plus her condemnation of Germany rearming in the face of Russian aggression. She also has a confused stance on the whole gender ideology debate, as highlighted on the Tipp FM clip (post #5259). But then again does it matter what she thinks or says re these issues? Does it matter what's picked up on when she speaks as President?

the ‘process’ can only be changed by constitutional referendum afaik. If you want a candidate of a particular ideological stripe you want to be electing tds. Senators, and Councillors of the same stripe who would spontaneously want to nominate your sort of candidate rather than have to be lobbied to do it

While it was a better debate than the last, Humphreys came across to me like she knows little. She is definitely following a script regurgitating the stuff that has been posted here all week. I think if somebody was to throw in a question from left field to her, she wouldn't have a clue how to answer. CC doesn't seem to need to rehearse anything.

From that article

The survey puts Ms Connolly's support at 36%.

Fine Gael candidate Heather Humphreys is at 25% support.

Jim Gavin...is at 12%

The undecideds can make the difference.

The repercussions within FF must be enormous when it's considered that so many who went to the doorstep in the years after the crash were snubbed and completely bypassed for a party outsider that in the end brought back all the grubby Bertie era landlordism.

My initial feeling is they'll coast on for the rest of the term but some may well jump ship to the likes of II, or the rural technical group, or as you highlight just join FG.

From the TV debate it's clear to me that Connolly want's the presidency to continue on with with her usual politics. If she said she want's to be a president for everyone I missed it, rather she talks like as though her personal politics is a direct match to what 'the majority of Irish people' also believe in, suggesting she's not much interested in opinions she doesn't agree with.

She's just going to being another typical left wing president who's priorities are 'social justice' and getting invoked in taking sides in foreign wars. Hardly a president for your average Joe.

It's really not.

Connolly was in the lead since day 1. Two government sponsored candidates were up against it in the first instance, throw in the recent budget and it was a tougher ask, Gavin dropping out has just strengthened CC's chances.

I don't know why more people can't see this.....whether you are a CC supporter or not the writing has been on the wall with a while.