A major survey by Northern Irelandâs two universities has found support for a united Ireland at an all-time low. The DUP has welcomed the findings of the Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey which reported that just 16% were in favour of unification. The survey, which was conducted between October and December last year, found just 33% of Catholics wanted Irish unity on the long term. More than half of Catholics said they would prefer to stay in the UK, a view shared by 90% of Protestants. The survey is conducted annually by Ark, a joint project by Queenâs University and the University of Ulster, for the Northern Ireland Social and Political Archive. Over the years it has shown high and rising Catholic support for the Union coupled with distrust of unionist parties. In 2005 the figure was 25% of Catholics wishing to remain in the UK and there had been a similar figure for many years before that. However, very few Catholics defined themselves as unionists or were prepared to vote for a unionist party. Despite 52% favouring the Union in the current survey, only 1% was prepared to vote for the DUP and 1% for the UUP. By contrast, only 1% of Protestants said they would favour a united Ireland. However, 82% said they could accept it with some reluctance if it came about after a democratic vote. East Belfast DUP MLA Robin Newton said: âFor many years, political nationalism has relied upon what is politely termed âdemographic changeâ to deliver their goal of a united Ireland. It is clear that a figure of 73% of people favouring the United Kingdom must include people who are not from a Protestant community background.â The poll also showed increasing optimism about community relations with 62% of people thinking they had improved over the past five years and 52% believing they would continue to improve over the next five years. Only 5% thought they would get worse. The survey threw up some curious answers on voting intentions. It found that DUP support was 18%, well below the 38% the party secured in last monthâs Assembly elections. By contrast the UUP scored 16% in both the poll and the actual election. On the nationalist side the SDLP, on 17%, was comfortably ahead of Sinn Feinâs 11%. In the election the roles were reversed with Sinn Fein scoring 29% and the SDLP 14%. One explanation may be that the poll covers both voters and non-voters. It may also be possible that some people are more reluctant to tell researchers that they vote for the DUP or Sinn Fein than the UUP or SDLP as they may wish to appear more moderate to a stranger. In the past Ark has said it believes that people surveyed have also been reluctant to give entirely accurate information on issues like income, voting intentions or their sexual orientation.
Id say a referendum would yield very different results to what you are saying here. Link please. Also can you explain the increasing electoral support for nationalist parties after each election?
Hmm stay in the UK which while having a crap economy at the moment still has one and provides for jobs etc etc , or join republic and bascially have an economy slighty weaker than the local corner shop wow hard discision that one!
Aye and we all support the Northern Ireland football team too, despite every Nationalist who is given the chance choosing to play for the Republic.
Seems the story is here http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/n...-catholics-want-to-remain-in-uk-16012932.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/jun/17/life-and-times-survey-united-ireland http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-N...lics-want-ties-to-England/UPI-99941308310442/ http://www.irishnews.com/
Sounds like spin to me from a tradionalist newspaper. I would like to see their research methodology and epistomology. also how they tried to eliminate bias from their research and analysis
And when the same people who were questioned were asked which Political party they support only 11% said they voted Sinn Fein despite Sinn Fein getting 29% of the vote. I think it's fair to say it wasn't representative.
McGivern, Clingan, Gorman, McGinn, Boyce, McCourt, Baird, O'Connor, Johnston, Shiels just some nationalists in the current setup.
But you do realise that the last election where they got 29% was one of the lowest turnouts in years. Maybe its more representative.
Reason I asked was that I'm working with a guy who used to work in a Celtic bar in Jersey, but as you are in Guernsey it doesn't really matter now!
The sample size was 1200 which is the size you need to gice you a plus or minus of 3 percent. Just becuase they vote for a party, does not mean they agree with all their policys.
Don't mean to sound like a WUM, but most of them were not good enough to play for ROI at one point. One of my best friends played for Northern Ireland school boys when he was about 14 and when we all wound him up about it he was quite honest in saying that he had no shame trying to put himself on a bigger stage to get spotted by scouts. If ROI had of come calling at the same time there was no doubt what the choice would have been. As for McGinn he has already stated who he grew up supporting, and Boyce I know for a fact was an ROI supporter since I know all his mates. Anyway the argument here is that most Nationalists are in fact unionist, with a small u. I see very little evidence of this with anyone I know - and I'm not just in a Nationalist working class social scene either.
