Ireland: politics with some social bases: an interpretation based on survey data.

Reports a re-analysis of a ten-year series of commercial opinion polls. In contrast to the results of the aggregate analysis, the Fine Gael vote exhibits clear social patterning. The Labour vote is also patterned, while the Fianna Fail vote is the least obviously affected by the socio-economic variables used in the opinion polls. Comparing the results of the aggregate and survey analyses, it appears that the scale of the social patterning of voting behaviour differs between Fine Gael and Fianna Fail, with Fine Gael voting affected by factors that vary within local areas and Fianna Fail voting affected by factors that vary between them. -from Author