Support for a Sinn Féin-led Government continues to increase as Fine Gael drops to its lowest popularity point. 

That’s according to the latest Sunday Independent/Ireland Thinks poll which showed most people prefer a Government excluding the current Coalition parties. 

Of 1,076 people polled, 41% said they want the next Government to be led by Sinn Féin and not include Fine Gael or Fianna Fáil. 

Some 39% said they would keep the current Coalition between Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and the Green Party, while 19% were undecided.

Fine Gael drops

Sinn Féin remains the most popular political party at 31% approval – a drop in one point – while Fine Gael dropped by one point to 19%. 

The Sunday Independent noted while this figure could be 3% higher or lower, 19% is the lowest approval rating Fine Gael has received since the newspaper started polling seven years ago. 

Support for Fianna Fáil, the Green Party and the Social Democrats remains unchanged at 19%, 3% and 6% respectively. 

The Labour Party dropped to 2% approval rating, another all-time low, while Aontú remains unchanged at 3%. 

Leadership

Sinn Féin Leader Mary Lou McDonald increased her own popularity by two points to 43%. She is now tied as the most popular political party leaders with Fianna Fáil Leader Micháel Martin and SocDem Leader Holly Cairns. 

Leo Varadkar’s popularity remains unchanged at 37% - but he remains the most popular choice to lead Fine Gael. 

Some 50% of people said they think Mr Varadkar should remain Fine Gael leader, while 28% said they would prefer Minister for Further and Higher Education Simon Harris to take over. 

RTÉ 

The poll also asked who is most responsible for recent controversy surrounding undeclared payments to former Late Late Show host Ryan Tubridy. 

Some 73% said the RTÉ executive as a whole is responsible, while 12% singled out former RTÉ Director General Dee Forbes. 

A further 7% said Mr Tubridy is responsible, while 4% blamed Mr Tubridy’s agent, Noel Kelly. 

The majority of people (78%) said the salary of any public sector worker should be capped at €250,000.