{"id":62540,"date":"2025-10-05T19:30:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-05T19:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/62540\/"},"modified":"2025-10-05T19:30:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-05T19:30:08","slug":"female-party-leaders-buoyed-by-connolly-poll-result","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/62540\/","title":{"rendered":"Female party leaders buoyed by Connolly poll result"},"content":{"rendered":"

The women leaders of opposition parties backing Catherine Connolly have been buoyed by favourable poll results for the presidential candidate.<\/p>\n

Sinn F\u00e9in leader Mary Lou McDonald, Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns, and Labour leader Ivana Bacik were among dozens joining Ms Connolly on a canvas of O\u2019Connell Street in Dublin on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Ms Connolly, who also enjoys the backing of People Before Profit and a range of independents, was on 32 per cent in the Sunday Independent\/Ireland Thinks poll, nine points ahead of Fine Gael\u2019s Heather Humphreys (23 per cent), with Fianna F\u00e1il\u2019s Jim Gavin trailing on 15 per cent.<\/p>\n

Asked about the figures on Sunday, the Galway TD said: \u201cThe poll reflects the reaction that I\u2019ve been getting on the ground \u2013 and not just me, the movement that I represent.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"SinnSinn F\u00e9in leader Mary Lou McDonald with Ms Connolly (Niall Carson\/PA)<\/p>\n

There was a merry atmosphere on Dublin\u2019s main thoroughfare as campaigners handed out leaflets while the candidate met voters, children and pets.<\/p>\n

Speaking to the PA news agency at the canvass, Ms McDonald said: \u201cI\u2019m delighted that Catherine\u2019s performing so strongly.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know that the campaign still has work to do, but she is clearly the so to able, most competent candidate in the field, and I think all of the values that she represents will shine through.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think she will just be a person who can articulate Ireland and who we are in a really powerful way over the next seven years.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added: \u201cShe\u2019s also not Fianna F\u00e1il or Fine Gael, and I think that will matter to people.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"DailLabour leader Ivana Bacik said she was \u2018delighted\u2019 with the polling figures, which showed Catherine Connolly on 32% (Brian Lawless\/PA)<\/p>\n

Ms Bacik said she was \u201cdelighted\u201d with the figures but, having worked on campaigns for Michael D Higgins, she said early polls should not be taken as definitive.<\/p>\n

She said: \u201cWe\u2019re getting an incredible level of support for her, that\u2019s our experience on the ground canvassing, so many people have already made up their minds.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are still undecideds but many after the first two debates are already moving towards her because her performance has been so strong.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"SocialSocial Democrats leader Holly Cairns (Liam McBurney\/PA)<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Presidential<\/p>\n

Ireland<\/p>\n

Presidential election poll: What is most important when choosing who to vote for?<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

She added: \u201cPeople say this to us: \u2018Even if I don\u2019t agree with everything she sees, I like her authenticity and her steadfast manner\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms Cairns said the momentum for Ms Connolly \u201ckeeps building\u201d and added: \u201cIt is a really special campaign to be a part of.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, she agreed that the result will come down to undecideds and encouraged supporters to \u201cspread the word\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The women leaders of opposition parties backing Catherine Connolly have been buoyed by favourable poll results for the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":62541,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-62540","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62540","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62540"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62540\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}