Ahern still tops with the voters.

Byline: PAT FLANAGAN 

BERTIE Ahern is riding high in the opinion polls with 42 per cent of voters saying they still support him.

But there was bad news for Fine Gael's new leader Michael Noonan, who is no more popular than the man he replaced.

It was thought that John Bruton's replacement would challenge the Taoiseach as the people's favourite.

But Noonan registered a "satisfaction rating" of just 37 per cent - the same figure achieved by Bruton in the last Irish Times/MRBI poll in January.

Ahern remains the most popular leader, with Tanaiste Mary Harney not far behind with a rating of 59 per cent.

The government's popularity has remained unaffected by Fine Gael's change of leadership.

In fact, Fianna Fail is enjoying its highest level of support since January 2000.

The poll was taken after the revelation of tax evasion at Fine Gael's headquarters.

However, the party's public support at 24 per cent has risen by four points since the last poll.

The results are bad news for Labour which, at 13 per cent, has dropped two per cent.

It revealed that Sinn Fein has overtaken them in Dublin as the third-strongest party.

CAPTION(S):

FLOP: Michael Noonan