Campaign Overview

From 29th June 2025 to midday 24th September 2025

Jim Gavin is running a steady, high-visibility radio campaign, sitting just behind the top line on overall mentions and standing out for a stronger presence on national talk formats. Compared with the field, his mix skews a little more Nationwide, so you’re as likely to hear him in the big, agenda-setting slots as across county stations. That national ballast is matched by healthy local peaks, most notably in Cork, with meaningful volume in Dublin. On county leaderships he’s competitive across the map and converts national name recognition into a solid cluster of local wins, even as several larger markets remain tight. Places like Cork, Kildare, Clare and Mayo regularly show single-digit margins, the kind of battlegrounds where a handful of segments can move the day’s leaderboard. Tone-wise, Gavin trends neutral-to-positive overall, with fewer sharp swings than his rivals. Much of the coverage on national talk is measured in style with plenty of straight reporting and panel discussion dotted with favourable framings around track record and temperament, plus the occasional critical moment that comes with high-profile candidacy such as his comments on social media platforms. The effect is a stable sentiment profile anchored by a large neutral base and periodic positives on high-reach shows such as The Pat Kenny Show, The Anton Savage Show and Newstalk Breakfast, where winner–runner gaps tend to be narrow but consistent. If you want to see the shape of that coverage at a glance, the live charts below show his Share of Voice beside other candidates, a county view of where he’s ahead (and by how much), a simple breakdown of which programmes mention him most, and a sentiment bar that tracks the balance of positive, neutral and negative items over time. It’s a clear picture of a campaign that’s broadly present, nationally credible, and well-placed to benefit when tight counties break his way.