New poll reveals majority in favour of repealing the Eighth Amendment in Ireland

Despite a slip in support since January, a new poll suggests a majority of Irish people are set to vote ‘Yes’ in the upcoming abortion referendum.

An Irish Times/Ipsos MRBI opinion poll published on Friday suggests that just under half of Irish people will vote to repeal the eighth amendment in the upcoming abortion referendum. 47% of those surveyed said that they would vote ‘Yes’ in the referendum, with 28% saying they would vote ‘No’. One in five people (20%) said that they remained undecided, an increase of 5% from a poll conducted just three months ago, while 3% said they would not vote and 1% refused. While 47% represents a clear majority in favour of a ‘Yes’ vote, support for the repealing of the amendment has slipped by nine points since January; there has also been a drop in support for keeping the eighth amendment, which has slipped one point since a poll earlier this year. Discounting undecideds and those who said they were unlikely to vote, 63% of respondents said they’d vote ‘Yes’ compared to 37% who said they’d vote ‘No’, with strong support for a ‘Yes’ vote coming from young people (67% of 18-24-year-olds), women (53%) and urban voters (52%). Support for a ‘No’ vote meanwhile, was strongest amongst older voters (49% of people over the age of 65, farmers (36%) and lowest income voters (34%). A series of additional questions in the poll, which addressed which side of the vote undecideds were “leaning towards”, knowledge of Government proposals post-referendum if the ‘Yes’ vote passes and the need for changes to the abortion laws revealed further support for the repealing of the eighth amendment; more details are available in the Irish Times report.