Robert Abela Continues To Trump Bernard Grech In Trust Ratings To Become Malta’s Prime Minister
Prime Minister Robert Abela continues to trump PN leader Bernard Grech’s trust ratings. However, a growing percentage of the electorate is simply unhappy with both political leaders.
A Misco survey commissioned by Lovin Malta uncovered that 51% of respondents want Abela as their Prime Minister after the 26th March election, compared to Grech’s 32%. Still, almost 17% said that they wanted neither of the two.
In fact, respondents gave a lukewarm response when rating the party leaders. Abela was given a rating of 6.6, slightly above average, while Grech scored a rating of 5.
It appears that Labour Party supporters are far happier with their leader compared to their PN counterparts. Just under 50% of Labour Party supporters gave Abela at 10, while 20% handed Grech a perfect score.
Of course, this also speaks to the fervent loyalty of party supporters, who at times blindly follow their respective leaders.
Grech does have some hope to turn the tide with large segments still undecided on how to perceive the relatively new PN leader. It could have a bearing on results. However, with just one debate left between the two leaders, it seems that its a little bit too late to sway the tide in a significant fashion.
It appears that men tend to have a more favourable view of Abela than women, who skew more towards Grech.
However, it is clear that the two leaders and their respective parties are failing to connect with an ever-growing number of disenfranchised voters in Malta. Almost 50% of undecided voters said they wanted neither of the two for Prime Minister, up from 40% in 2017.
The trend seems to indicate that a credible party could make big inroads with this pocket of voters and that the timing has never been better for one to actually have a long-lasting impact on the local political landscape.
According to Lovin Malta’s survey, the Labour Party is leading the PN by an 11% gap. However, almost 21% of respondents said they were either not voting (11%) or refused to disclose their voting intention (10%).
It appears that the leaders’ respective trust ratings could give an indication over where undecided voters, who will have a major bearing on this election, could be heading.
This survey was conducted among a random sample of 457 respondents between the 9th March and 11th March. Interviews were conducted on the telephone by trained interviewers under the direct supervision of MISCO coordinators. Respondents were selected using the random digit dialling method. A total of 574 persons were contacted to achieve a sample of 457 respondents.
A sample of 457 provides a margin of error within ±4.7%. However when one applies the weighting efficiency resulting from the weighting of the data by age, gender and region, the margin of error increases to ±5.4%. The weighting efficiency is the amount of skewing that had to be done to align the sample to the actual population data.
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