Sinn Fein’s leftist identity at odds with voters’ politics?

According to Dr Eoin O’Malley, Sinn Fein’s voter base in the Republic tends to be more right wing than the party’s leftist agenda would suggest. The conclusions are drawn from an examination of the National Election Study Data, by the ESRI. It’s already been subject to a lengthy discussion at Politics.ie.Fionnan Sheahan in the Independent:

It is a radical nationalist and populist party but is “at odds with its supporters except on the national question”, the lecturer from the School of Law and Government at DCU says. “The more likely you are to vote for Sinn Fein, the more intolerant you are,” he said.

The paper, ‘Ultra-nationalists: Sinn Fein and redefining the extreme right’, will be delivered at the Political Studies Association conference in UCC this weekend.

The party’s militaristic patriotism, its rigorous targeting of marginalised constituencies and a populist approach to electoral politics may be some of the contributory factors for this finding. there in Cork when

We are reader supported. Donate to keep Slugger lit!

For over 20 years, Slugger has been an independent place for debate and new ideas. We have published over 40,000 posts and over one and a half million comments on the site. Each month we have over 70,000 readers. All this we have accomplished with only volunteers we have never had any paid staff.

Slugger does not receive any funding, and we respect our readers, so we will never run intrusive ads or sponsored posts. Instead, we are reader-supported. Help us keep Slugger independent by becoming a friend of Slugger. While we run a tight ship and no one gets paid to write, we need money to help us cover our costs.

If you like what we do, we are asking you to consider giving a monthly donation of any amount, or you can give a one-off donation. Any amount is appreciated.