Sinn Féin voters more in favour of promotion of Ulster-Scots than unionists

Sinn Féin voters are more in favour of the Executive doing extra to promote Ulster-Scots than the DUP and the UUP.

Issues around the promotion of both the Irish language and Ulster Scots have become increasingly prominent in recent years, with dual-language street sign policies at local council level becoming more and more scrutinised.

Stormont’s two largest parties have seen frequent battles over language issues, with Sinn Féin accusing DUP ministers on multiple occasions of being against the Irish language and other aspects of Irish identity.

New analysis of data from the Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey ahead of next year’s Stormont election has revealed that nationalist parties, rather than unionist parties, believe more should be done in the promotion of Ulster Scots – most commonly associated with unionist and loyalist communities in the north.

The analysis of voter attitudes on several policy issues has been carried out by Jack Russell, independent data analyst and author of the Believe the Data blog.

It has used the last four versions of the NI Life and Times Survey since the last Stormont election in 2022, to analyse voter attitudes of Sinn Féin, the SDLP, Alliance, the UUP and the DUP.

According to the analysis, 36% of Sinn Féin voters say they “agree or strongly agree” with the statement that “more should be done by the NI Executive to encourage and promote Ulster Scots language, heritage and culture in Northern Ireland”.

When it comes to DUP voters, just 33% either agreed or strongly agreed with the statement.

Ulster Unionist voters displayed the largest level of disagreement with the increased promotion of Ulster Scots, with the data showing 41% of the party’s voters not in favour of the Executive doing more to promote it.

Among the other issues which appear to have differentiated voters is the flying of flags on lampposts in Northern Ireland.

Disputes over the flying of flags in public places are commonplace, including disagreements between police and Stormont departments over whose responsibility it is to remove offensive material.

The NILT data shows that a sizeable amount of Sinn Féin (61%), the SDLP (67%) and Alliance (67%) voters are against the flying of flags on lampposts throughout Northern Ireland on special dates for particular celebrations.

Unionist party voters, on the other hand, are broadly in favour of flags flying on lampposts on special dates, with 67% of DUP voters agreeing with the statement and 49% of UUP voters doing likewise.

A full analysis of the data can be read at: https://believethedata.org/the-road-to-stormont-2027-voter-attitudes-and-election-battlegrounds/