Most voters support existing State benefits for asylum seekers or believe they should be expanded – exit poll

Most voters support the level of benefits given by the State to asylum seekers – or believe it should be going further.
An Irish Times/RTÉ/TG4/Trinity College Dublin exit poll by Ipsos B&A found 38 per cent believe benefits provided by the State are appropriate. Some 19 per cent of people believe that the government should go further in terms of the benefits afforded to asylum seekers.
Forty-one of voters believe the State provides too many benefits.
Those who believe the State is too generous are in a minority overall – although it is a relatively large minority, and enjoys more support than any single other category.
Support for a more generous system of benefits is strongest among younger cohorts, with 28 per cent of respondents aged 18-24 of the view it should be more generous, which fell away to 18 per cent among those aged 65 and older.
The view that the State provides too many benefits was most strongly held by those in the 35-49 age group and those aged 50-64, where 44 per cent of respondents were of this view.
On a regional basis, strongest support for the view that the State was too generous could be found in Connacht/Ulster, where 59 per cent were of this view, significantly ahead of Dublin, where 31 per cent supported this proposition.
In Dublin, more voters felt that the benefits provided by the State are appropriate, at 41 per cent, versus the view that too many benefits are provided (31 per cent) or too few (26 per cent).
Parties of the centre left were generally supportive of the view that more benefits should be provided, or are at an appropriate level. Sinn Féin voters were the only large party respondents who in a majority felt the system was too generous – with some 54 per cent supporting this view.
Independent Ireland voters, however, were strongly of this view, with 72 per cent believing that too many benefits were on offer.
The Green Party vote was strongest in terms of support for providing more benefits, on 46 per cent.
More voters were of the view that immigration has been a positive for Ireland – but it was a relatively narrow margin, with 45 per cent of respondents of this view, compared to 41 per cent viewing it as a negative overall. Some 12 per cent of voters polled had no view.
On a party level, the Greens (81 per cent), Labour (77 per cent), the Social Democrats (79 per cent) and People Before Profit (71 per cent) believe immigration has been a positive for Ireland.
These figures are markedly lower among the larger parties: Fine Gael (50 per cent), Fianna Fáil (46 per cent) and Sinn Féin (30 per cent), and that trend continuing down through Aontú voters (20 per cent) and Independent Ireland (10 per cent).