McGuinness is Susan Boyle of the East

By Grace Campbell

Opinion polls are good for one reason - to frighten the candidates into more action. They aim to urge voters into action but if people, particularly young people, are not interested in voting in the first place then an opinion poll is not going to change that.

The Irish Times/ TNS mrbi poll which was published last weekend shows MEP Mairead McGuinness as being the “leading vote-getter.” This could be interpreted in one of three ways by voters in the East:

1. She’ll win her seat regardless of whether I vote or not.

2. I do / don’t want her to represent the East, I’ll vote for my candidate of choice.

3. Who is Mairead McGuinness?

In the real world, option 1 comes to the forefront of a lot of people’s minds, hence why apathy is such a prominent issue. In an ideal world voters should choose option 2 to reflect their thought process and have their say in the next election. And option three? Well, what else can be said but that it is an indication of what young people place their priorities on and unfortunately European politics is not one of them.

McGuinness is now the Susan Boyle of the East – everyone assumes that she will win. That can have a backlash if people decide to give their vote to another candidate so they have a fighting chance against her. Like any of those TV talent competitions, there is always someone in the final that has managed to obtain the sympathy vote, whether it is the cute kid that can belt out a ballad or the person with a sob story that has everyone in tears.

According to the opinion poll, John Paul Phelan is trailing behind the top three Eastern candidates and suggestions are now being made that Fine Gael must manage to balance the votes between its two candidates more evenly. Does this mean that McGuinness must slow down or that Phelan must come up to speed? Fine Gael will not be happy to lose Avril Doyle’s seat to Nessa Childers of Labour but it could be a reality if a joint strategy between the Fine Gael candidates is not implemented.

Phelan must now bring something new to the European table for Eastern voters to give him their number one. McGuiness and Phelan need to become the new “Ant & Dec,” working together for the benefit of one another. After all, the Susan Boyles of this world have come and gone but Ant & Dec have been there season after season.