Sinn Féin’s downward trajectory in the south continues. The latest polls place the party at 16-17%, a far cry from the heady 36% in summer 2023. The juggernaut from 2020-23 has run into sand.
In the north we don’t know the impact of the last few weeks because there haven’t been any subsequent polls.
A remedy is not so urgent in the north because there are no elections until 2027, but in the south an election looms before the end of next month with the money on November 29.
There are two takeways from the current loss of credibility north and south and from the party’s shambolic responses to the crisis.
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First, a slip of one or two per cent in the polls after the humungous pile-on by political opponents and the media north and south isn’t too bad. It’s an indication that, in the south at least, the general public aren’t as obsessed as politicians and journalists are with who knew what, when or how long they covered it up. For the public at large, housing and immigration remain dominant.
It’s also the case that as the election campaign gets into gear, the race........