For a party leader to drop eight percentage points in one month for taking the ethically correct side on an issue involving low standards in high office is disastrous. The results of this poll are a stinging slap from the electorate and an indictment of Kenny's handling of the gifts/ loans to Bertie saga.

The Sunday Tribune/Millward Brown IMS poll is distinictive in that it provides an important snapshot of the voters' evaluation of a very defined period in government. Our last poll was in September . . . this one is just five weeks later, and its results are a revealing and detailed insight into the thinking of voters over the "payments to Bertie" scandal and how it was handled by both government and opposition.

And it presents a paradox: people have forgiven Bertie Ahern for his financial and ethical misdemeanours, but they are roundly punishing Enda Kenny for failing to land a killer political punch.

His wary sanctimony about Ahern's personal problems were seen as fake and manufactured.

His overly careful attempt not to alienate a public clearly displaying sympathy for Bertie Ahern was seen as timid populism rather than strong leadership and principled opposition.

His Dail performances . . . two helpings of scripted outrage with a side order of questions so many and so muddled they invited evasion . . . were regarded in the end as tiresome and ineffective.

If Enda Kenny wasn't prepared to nail his criticism to the mast and call for Bertie Ahern's resignation himself, then what was all the fuss about?

What indeed? We now know, of course, that most people (55%) believe Ahern was wrong to take the money, but his offence and the amounts involved were venal enough for him to remain, in their view, a trustworthy Taoiseach. Most people (65%) in our poll said it was not a resigning matter.

On this, they disagreed with Trevor Sargent, the most outspoken and focused opponent of the Taoiseach who never evaded the R-question. Sargent clearly and repeatedly argued that Bertie Ahern should resign because once he'd touched the money he'd broken the spirit of the ethical code (if not the letter of it, as the Taoiseach was at pains to point out).

The voters disagree with Sargent. But unlike Enda Kenny's rating, the Green Party leader's has shot up: some 43% of those polled said they were satisfied with his performance as party leader, a seven per cent rise on the September poll.

For Fine Gael and Labour, none of this could have come at a worse time, with fewer than eight months now left until a general election.

The steady build-up of support that had given them so much confidence, according to today's poll, has disappeared at the first real test. Voters have little faith in the two parties' joint ability to handle the affairs of state. Over twice as many (56%, up 6% despite Bertiegate) believe Bertie Ahern would make a better taoiseach than Enda Kenny (25%, down four percent thanks to his handling of Bertiegate).

Fine Gael has a huge amount of work to do to persuade a clearly doubting electorate that they can lead effectively and implement their policies without flinching to sectoral interests.

Unfortunately, last week's fudge over the Fine Gael "big idea" of creating A&E "wet rooms" and fining drunks for clogging up the hospital system does not augur well.

There is no point in blaming the electorate.

These are good times for most and it will take a lot to shift people's allegiance to the government credited, rightly or wrongly, with providing us with our comfort zone. Without a doubt, we are now a country that likes strong leaders . . . the endorsement of Michael O'Leary in this poll is absolute. Our leaders can cry a little bit so we feel they are human but, as our Taoiseach has shown, albeit to the disgust of many, fortune favours the brazen.

Enda Kenny, Michael McDowell and Pat Rabbitte are finding, to their cost, the biggest losers are those who prevaricate, flip-flop or waffle.