This new poll was taken over the last few days.
Last week, a Paddy Power General and Presidential Election Opinion Poll conducted by Red C revealed that the current President commands a first preference share of 70% ahead of the election later this month.
Anyone who was thinking that may have been a skewed opinion will find it difficult to argue with the results of a
new Irish Times opinion poll.
The poll was conducted from Wednesday 10 to Friday 12 October, among a representative sample of 1,200 voters aged 18 and over in face-to-face interviews at 120 sampling points in all constituencies, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.8%.
The result of the polls show the following breakdown of voting preference:
Michael D Higgins 66%
Sean Gallagher 12%
Liadh Ni Riada 11%
Joan Freeman 5%
Gavin Duffy 4%
Peter Casey 2%
This puts the current President with a lead of almost exactly double that of all his competitors combined.
Although, whether or not
the idea of an Irish President should even continue after Michael D's term in office is over is up for debate.
The same poll also gauged opinion ahead of the upcoming blasphemy referendum, with 51% of those surveyed in favour of removing references to blasphemy in the Constitution.
19% are in favour of keeping the references, and 25% say they don't know.
