Almost half of voters already knew how they would vote before the race to Leinster House began.
According to the RTÉ, Irish Times, TG4 and Trinity College Dublin Exit Poll carried out by Ipsos B&Al, 47% of people made up their minds on how they would vote before the campaign for the general election began.
This percentage rose by age group, with 27% of 18-24 year olds knowing how they would vote before the campaign, 46% of 25-34 year olds, 41% of 35-48 year olds, 50% of 50-64 year olds and 62% of people aged 65 or over.
A total of 23% of people surveyed made up their minds during the election campaign, a figure that stayed relatively static between 23% and 28% among the first four age groups, before dropping to 13% for those over 65.
A further 19% said they made their decision in the last couple of days, ranging from 29% of 18-24 year olds, 15% of 25-34 year olds, 22% of 35-49 year olds, 17% of 50-64 year olds and 16% of over 65s.
Another 11% made their decision on the day of the vote, including 15% of 18-24 year olds, 14% of 25-34 year olds, 11% of 35-49 year olds, 9% of 50-64 year olds and 8% of over 65s.
Among parties, the Exit Poll suggests 57% of people who gave their first preference to Sinn Fein decided to do so before the campaign, compared to Aontu (54%), Fine Gael (52%), Fianna Fail (46%), other smaller parties (46%), People Before Profit-Solidarity (43%), Labour (41%), Independents (41%), Independent Ireland (40%), the Green Party (33%) and the Social Democrats (30%).
The Exit Poll was carried out in person, outside polling stations at 253 locations across the country, covering each of the 43 Dáil constituencies.
The sample size was 5,018, and the margin of error is 1.4%.
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