More little nuggets from our exit poll

Mark Little
Prime Time

It contains some indication of which segments of the population the various parties and candidates draw their strength from.

Sinn Féin candidates polled strongest among the unemployed. The candidate in Dublin, Mary Lou McDonald, got 14.7% of the first preference vote, according to our exit poll, but she got 32.4% of the long-term unemployed voters.

Sinn Féin also did very well among single men, particularly in Europe South where
Toiréasa Ferris got 13.7% of vote, according to our poll, but 22% of the votes of single men. Go figure!

Declan Ganley of Libertas was also a big hit with single men - getting one in five of their votes, according to our exit poll. 

Back in Dublin, Joe Higgins had a particular appeal to those who have recently been made redundant. He got 11.2% of the vote overall, according to our poll, but 32.4% among those made jobless in the last six months. Higgins also got a particularly high vote among 50 to 64 year olds.

Fianna Fáil’s Eoin Ryan got a higher than average vote from 18 to 24 year olds and the ABC1 social classes.

For all the talk of an angry grey vote, Fianna Fáil got its highest support among over 65s.

Fine Gael was particularly strong among the AB social classes, the self-employed and married couples.
 
Labour has particularly strong support among young single women - particularly working women.

Local issues mattered less to Dubliners than those in other parts of the country and the performance of the government mattered more.

Party affiliation mattered most in the East Euro constituency.

When out pollsters asked people should there be a general election this year, there was most support for the idea among young people (about 62% among 18-29 years old versus 55% overall) and the unemployed at 68%.

61% of Green voters agreed with the idea of another election in 2009.

Read the full exit poll on RTÉ.ie/elections