Malta’s top concern is corruption, followed by traffic and immigration, according to a scientific survey by Lovin Malta.

Asked to cite the biggest issue that concerned them most right now, 20.6% of respondents chose “corruption”, 16.3% chose “traffic, parking or public transport” and 15.3% chose “immigration”.

The Lovin Malta survey, carried out in partnership with research company Esprimi, was conducted between Thursday 26th and Friday 27th July, a few days after the Egrant inquiry summary was published, using a mix of online and telephone interviews. A base of 1,100 responses was used to sample the electorate.

People’s biggest concern did change according to political affiliations. Those who voted PN in 2017 chose these three issues as their top concerns: corruption (41.2%), Malta becoming a one-party state (22.6%) and the environment (9.8%).

On the other hand, people who voted PL in 2017 had three totally different concerns: immigration (26.3%), traffic/parking/public transport (25.1%) and rent prices (11.2%).

There were also significant differences depending on age groups.

The youngest part of the electorate (16-24 year olds) cited immigration, traffic and the environment as their top concerns, with corruption falling to fourth place.

The lack of interest in corruption perhaps explains why PN leader Adrian Delia is faring best with this segment of the population. According to the survey, 16-24 year olds are more likely to trust Delia and vote PN than any other segment polled. On the other hand, more than half of PN voters believe Delia is corrupt, explaining why there is so much general mistrust towards Delia and PN among Nationalist voters, since corruption is such a major concern for them.

In all other age groups, corruption becomes the top concern, when the general population is taken as a whole.

Traffic and the environment place second and third among the concerns of 25-34 year olds, while 35-44 year olds cite the one-party state and the environment as their second and third concerns after corruption.

Immigration works its way up the list of priorities in the age groups 45-54 where it places second followed by the fear of a one-party state.

55-64 year olds cite the one party state and immigration as their second and third concerns, while those 65 or older cite traffic and immigration.

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Chris Peregin

Christian is an award-winning journalist and entrepreneur who founded Lovin Malta, a new media company dedicated to creating positive impact in society. He is passionate about justice, public finances and finding ways to build a better future.