17 October 2002

BBC poll; climate change?

The BBC have published a new poll that indicates that support of the Belfast Agreement has suffered a major loss of confidence:

"It suggests support for the Agreement is now only 56% - compared to more than 70% at the time of the referendum four years ago. Only a third of unionists would vote for the Agreement if the referendum were held today - that is about 10 percentage points down since the programme sampled opinion a year ago."

More telling about the hardening of the attitude with Unionism is the disfavour felt towards powersharing, something that even the DUP has not ruled out: "...58% of unionists told the pollsters that they did not want to share power with either the SDLP or Sinn Fein."

However, there appears to an appetite for compromise amongst Nationalist voters:

"Despite their attachment to the Agreement, just over a half of all nationalists said they would be prepared to see it renegotiated. Across the board there is a sense that something radical will have to happen if devolution is to be restored."

Update: more details at UTV

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