Almost 7 in 10 respondents (69 percent) to a national survey said that weren’t satisfied with the choice of candidates in last year’s presidential election.
Just seven percent of respondents expressed satisfaction with the choice of candidates, while 21 percent fell in the middle, neither satisfied nor dissatisfied.
An Coimisiún Toghcháin (the Electoral Commission) published today the results of the Presidential Election 2025 National Election and Democracy Study (NEDS), which provides insights on voter and non-voter motivations and experiences around last October’s ballot.
The Presidential Election NEDS followed a “nationally representative” sample of 1,312 respondents during the election campaign through three surveys: one towards the beginning of the campaign; the second during election week; and the third survey immediately after the election.
The study also examined the issue of spoilt, or invalid, votes following the election’s historic number (12 percent).
The Electoral Commission highlighted the fact that the number of respondents who said they cast a spoilt ballot reflected the national figure of 12 percent.
Reasons given for that decision were categorised, and respondents who spoilt their vote were able to give more than one reason.
Almost half (45 percent) said that they didn’t like any of the candidates; 27 percent gave the reason that the process for selecting candidates was unfair; 17 percent related to there being insufficient choice; 14 percent considered their spoilt ballot a protest against government policy; and seven percent said that they preferred a candidate not on ballot paper.
Meanwhile, six percent indicated an “other” reason and three percent provided no reason.
Among the surveys’ other key findings were that 97 percent of people said that they’d had a “positive experience” when voting, with 96 percent saying that they found it easy to access their polling station.
Those respondents who didn’t vote were able to choose from a list all of the reasons that applied to their decision.
The top five explanations given were being away from home on the day selected (24 percent); didn’t know who to vote for (20 percent); couldn’t decide how to vote (13 percent); not registered (12 percent); and work commitments (nine percent).
Over 80 percent of respondents agreed with the statement that ‘who people vote for can make a difference to what happens’.
A majority of respondents were inclined to say that the elections in Ireland are well-managed and fair.
After the election, 84 percent of respondents agreed that elections are conducted in accordance with the law, while 72 percent said that elections are well managed.
Just over 70 percent believed election officials are fair, while 89 percent believed their vote was secret once they put it in the ballot box.
“While generally positive these figures show a drop across some of these indicators since the General Election NEDS in November 2024,” the Commission said, adding that this “suggests there is no cause for complacency amongst those with a role in protecting and promoting trust in elections and democracy in Ireland”.
Commenting after the publication of the data, Chief Executive of An Coimisiún Toghcháin, Art O’Leary said that by studying voters’ and non-voters’ experiences and motivations at each election “we’re building up a picture of our democracy to support An Coimisiún Toghcháin’s work and benchmark trust in democracy and our progress over time”.
“The number of invalid votes in this presidential election was significantly higher than any previous electoral event, and the insights provided directly from a representative sample of those voters about their personal motivations contributes to the ongoing process of enhancing democracy and elections in this country,” he said.