Greater support for a united Ireland is adding to the DUP’s misery

DUP logo beside a map of a united Ireland


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Following unionist discontent with Arlene Foster’s handling of Brexit negotiations and the subsequent Northern Ireland Protocol, Foster announced she’d step down as DUP leader and first minister of Northern Ireland. In the weeks that followed, the DUP elected Edwin Poots as party leader. It proved to be an extremely divisive time for the north’s then most popular unionist party.

Because DUP members were unhappy with Poots’ handling of the UK government’s commitment to passing an Irish language act, he lasted just three weeks. The DUP then endorsed Jeffrey Donaldson as its new and latest leader. But if the party thought that was the end of this particularly bumpy road, it would be sadly mistaken.

Poll results

On 28 August, an opinion poll showed the DUP had slumped from being the most popular mainstream unionist party to becoming the least popular. It also showed it had become one of the least popular mainstream parties in the north of Ireland:

Some on social media found it hard to contain their delight:

While this person took a more satirical approach:

The DUP couldn’t have been altogether surprised by this poor showing. Especially given divisive leadership struggles and its most recent Westminster election performance where it lost two of its MPs.

It gets worse…

But if all that wasn’t sufficiently gruelling for this racist, Islamophobic, homophobic creationist party, another opinion poll would pile the pressure on further. Because in the Observer on Sunday 29 August, a poll suggested two-thirds of voters in the north believe there should be a vote on its place in the UK. And even more worryingly for unionists, the survey suggested:

A survey published in June suggested that support for a united Ireland was as low as 30%. So with this recent upsurge in support, some united Ireland supporters couldn’t contain themselves:

Who’s sorry now?

There can be little doubt that the aftermath of Brexit has affected people’s opinions. And let’s not forget the north’s then-leading unionist party was in the driving seat of that particular bus.

While some unionists may take a different view of this poll, it’s ignoring the bigger picture of what might lie ahead. These are indeed worrying times for unionism.

Featured image via YouTube – BBC Newsnight & Commons Wikimedia – Дмитрий-5-Аверин

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  • Show Comments

    1. TBF, to WANT to live under the Tory-Murdoch Rule, you’d pretty much have to be either serially-abused until you are ‘Stockholm Syndromed’, or wish to be an abuser yoursel’.

      There are probaby quite a few ‘protestant loyalists’ who are looking at life as part of Ireland and the EU, instead of the Tories and UK, as being a much better deal for them and their families.

      Irish they may be, but that doesn’t mean they are stupid.

      The Tories have lost Ireland, just as they have lost Scotland, and soon enough Wales and Cornwall.

      It seems that the little snobby shits who are sent by their overly-wealthy parents to play “On the cricket fields of Eton” are not actually superior people, are not particularly intelligent or well-educated, and are most certainly not fit to run an advanced modern country.

      However, like freemasons, they make sure to only hire people from the same cult.

      Those people are barely any more attractive to Irish ‘Loyalists’ than to the Sinn Fein ‘Nationalists’.

      And, after the rigorous bum-fucking that the Tories gave Arlene over brexshit, that is obvious to all but the most dumbest ‘Loyalist’ out there.

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