[lg policy] Poll suggests attitudes towards Irish language act more entrenched after collapse of talks

[Harold Schiffman]

 Poll suggests attitudes towards Irish language act more entrenched after
collapse of talks Attitudes amongst voters towards an Irish language act
appear to have become even more entrenched after the collapse of talks to
restore devolution. Picture by Hugh Russell

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John Monaghan
06 March, 2018 01:00
Topics

   - Assembly election <https://www.irishnews.com/tags/Assembly-election>
   - DUP <https://www.irishnews.com/tags/DUP>
   - Irish language act <https://www.irishnews.com/tags/Irish-language-act>
   - Lucid Talk <https://www.irishnews.com/tags/Lucid-Talk>
   - poll <https://www.irishnews.com/tags/poll>
   - Sinn Féin <https://www.irishnews.com/tags/Sinn-Féin>
   - voters <https://www.irishnews.com/tags/voters>

<https://www.irishnews.com/picturesarchive/irishnews/irishnews/2018/03/05/210514504-411b47f3-a534-46c8-bcc3-5f6b291ab96e.jpg>
Support for the DUP has dipped slightly since September, according to the
poll. Picture by Mal McCann

ATTITUDES towards an Irish language act became more entrenched after the
collapse of talks to restore power-sharing, according to an opinion poll.

The tracker survey of more than 2,000 voters was carried out last month by
Lucid Talk in the wake of the Valentine's Day breakdown of negotiations.

Amongst DUP voters, support for the party's policy of opposing an Irish
language act rose from 67 per cent in September to 79 per cent.

There was a similar rise amongst voters of Sinn Féin, the SDLP and People
Before Profit in their backing of the legislation - from 68 per cent to 76
per cent over the same period.

Asked how they would vote if there was another assembly election, 33.6 per
cent said they would support the DUP, while 32.4 per cent would vote Sinn
Féin.

That largely replicates the trend of last March's election, when Sinn Féin
emerged with just one MLA fewer than the DUP.

However, the survey showed a fall of 1.9 per cent in support for the DUP
since September, while Sinn Féin's popularity rose by 1.2 per cent.

Support for the UUP also increased by 0.7 per cent, while the SDLP and
Alliance fell by 0.8 and 0.6 per cent respectively. The TUV was up 1 per
cent.

There is a big generational gap, according to the poll, with Sinn Féin
polling almost 10 per cent higher than the DUP amongst the 18 to 44 age
group.

Bill White from Lucid Talk told U105: "There are a number of comments (in
the responses) which show a small section of DUP supporters were a bit
unnerved about the way they handled the recent talks."


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 Harold F. Schiffman

Professor Emeritus of
 Dravidian Linguistics and Culture
Dept. of South Asia Studies
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305

Phone:  (215) 898-7475
Fax:  (215) 573-2138

Email:  haroldfs at gmail.com
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/

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