Almost half of people who said they gave Sinn Féin a first preference vote in Election 2024 said housing and homelessness was the most important issue influencing their choice, according to Exit Poll data.
Health and cost of living were the biggest issues for Fianna Fáil voters, while economic stability, cost of living, and health were the biggest issues for Fine Gael voters.
Some 47% of people who told Ipsos B&A that they gave Sinn Féin a first preference vote highlighted housing/homelessness as their key concern.
This figure compares to 17% for Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael voters.
The figure across other parties was 15% Green Party, 36% Labour, 34% Social Democrats, 50% People Before Profit-Solidarity, 24% Aontú, 24% Independent Ireland, 24% Independents, and 29% among other smaller parties.
The data is contained in the RTÉ, Irish Times, TG4 and Trinity College Dublin Exit Poll conducted by Ipsos B&A.
Other key issues for Sinn Féin voters included cost of living (22%), and health (12%). Immigration and crime were ranked by just 6% and 2% of Sinn Féin voters respectively as their top issue.
Asked the same question, people who gave Fianna Fáil a first preference according the Exit Poll said health (26%), followed by cost of living (20%), housing/homelessness (17%), economic stability (12%) and crime (4%).
For Fine Gael voters, the top five issues were economic stability (20%), health (20%), cost of living (19%), housing/homelessness (17%) and immigration (4%).
Climate change was the biggest factor influencing people who gave their first preference vote to the Green Party, with 51% saying it was their most important issue.
This compares to 4% each for Labour and the Social Democrats, 3% for Independents, 2% for Fianna Fáil, 1% for Fine Gael, 0% for Sinn Féin, People Before Profit-Solidarity, Aontú and Independent Ireland, and 8% for other smaller parties.
Other Green Party voter priorities included housing/homelessness (15%), childcare (6%), crime (5%), economic stability (4%) and health (4%).
For Labour, the biggest issues were housing/homelessness (36%), cost of living (19%), health (13%), economic stability (11%) and a number of issues tied at 4%.
Social Democrats voters prioritised housing/homelessness (34%), health (20%), cost of living (18%), childcare (4%) and climate change (4%), while People Before Profit-Solidarity prioritised housing/homelessness (50%), health (12%), cost of living (9%), immigration (9%) and economic stability (2%).
Aontú voters were most influenced by housing/homelessness (24%), immigration (24%), health (17%), cost of living (10%) and economic stability (9%), while Independent Ireland voters prioritised cost of living (30%), housing/homelessness (24%), health (14%), immigration (9%) and value for money in public spending (4%).
Among unaligned Independents voters, the priorities were cost of living (25%), housing/homelessness (24%), health (16%), immigration (9%) and economic stability (6%).
Among first preference voters for other smaller parties, the biggest issues were immigration (33%), housing/homelessness (29%), health (8%), cost of living (8%) and climate change (8%).
The Exit Poll was carried out in-person outside 253 polling stations covering each of the 43 Dáil constituencies.
The sample size was 5,018, and the margin of error 1.4%.
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