Fianna Fail back up to 42% Support: Poll

Irish TImes Poll this morning has FF at 42%, FG at 26%, Lab at 15%, SF 6% , GP 4% and PD 1%

And why wouldn’t 42% of the country consider voting for a man not shy of belting out a few songs?

Cowen has his bounce, no doubt about that, but what a bounce it is. The eight point gain puts Fianna Fail back to the levels of support seen in the election last may. Without having to do very much other than a large homecoming, Cowen has generated a return of goodwill towards the party. He has a number of challenges in the coming years but starting from 42% support is a nice position to have.

While Labour will be thrilled to finally get over 13% and Fine Gael miffed at dropping back into the mid-20s, there is not an election for twelve more months and the work done in the next while will be important to determining the outcomes next June. FG at 26% is still not bad considering the bad days of the years prior to the last election but they will surely worry about Enda’s ability to compete with Cowen in a highly personalised contest – in the sense of focussing on leaders, not parties.