Party Leaders
Leader satisfaction — the story so far
% satisfied with each party leader's performance, Ireland Thinks/Sunday Independent, since January 2025 — 8 real, individually-sourced readings (irregularly spaced; coverage of this question is uneven month to month). Only the 5 major-party leaders this poll series tracks are shown — Ireland Thinks doesn't cover the Green Party, Aontú, or Independent Ireland leaders. Use the toggles below to add or remove one.
Party Leader Approval Ratings
% satisfied · 31 Jul 2026 · Ireland Thinks / Sunday Independent · ±2.6pp margin of error (n=1,384)
Holly Cairns has the highest satisfaction rating of any major-party leader tracked (38%), while Ivana Bacik has the lowest (28%).
Click any row for full profile. Satisfaction ratings from Ireland Thinks/Sunday Independent, 31 Jul 2026. "Wtd Avg" = satisfaction averaged across this leader's real readings with a 3-month recency half-life (weighted by actual elapsed time between polls, since they aren't evenly spaced), so a single noisy reading can't swing it as much as the latest figure alone. The badge beside each satisfied % is the real change vs that leader's previous reading, whatever the gap between polls happened to be.
Red C Favourability Index
A separate 0-100 favourability score from Business Post/Red C (May 2026) — the only real, sourced reading found covering all 8 party leaders, including the 3 smaller-party leaders not covered by the Ireland Thinks satisfaction series above. A single snapshot, not a trend, and not directly comparable to the % satisfied figures elsewhere on this page.