Fionnan Sheahan: No Focal at all as Micheal Martin plugs in to Downing Street's polling experts

"It's not true at all to say Micheál Martin did no research into his presidential election campaign. Far from it. The Taoiseach got his Prague-based consultant to hire a hotshot London polling company that works for Downing Street to crunch some numbers. A favourite pastime of the Fianna Fáil leader is to slag off the pollsters, claiming that surveys are never accurate about the Soldiers of Destiny."

"A favourite pastime of the Fianna Fáil leader is to slag off the pollsters, claiming that surveys are never accurate about the Soldiers of Destiny. Martin will frequently delight in pointing to the dozens of polls that showed his party struggling between the last two general elections as a means to discredit the profession. Not paying attention to the polls is a catchphrase - unless the polls suit his purpose."

Micheál Martin commissioned research for the presidential campaign, using a Prague-based consultant who engaged a London polling company connected to Downing Street. The campaign incorporated polling data to inform decisions. Martin frequently criticizes pollsters and highlights polls that showed Fianna Fáil struggling between the last two general elections. He selectively accepts or dismisses surveys depending on their convenience. That selective reliance on pollsters contributed to a miscalculation in the presidential campaign and exposed a gap between rhetorical disdain for polls and practical dependence on them.

Read at Independent