A significant majority of Jamaicans identified ‘crime and violence’ as the number one problem facing the country, with joblessness a distant second and poor leadership an even more distant third, based on the most recent Stone Polls.

Sixty-four per cent of respondents who were asked what was the most important problem facing the country at this time, said ‘crime/violence’, followed by unemployment (20.7 per cent) and poor leadership (1.7 per cent).

But when asked to identify the most important problem facing their community, most people said ‘unemployment’ (54 per cent), ‘poor infrastructure’ (11.3 per cent) followed by ‘crime’ (8.7 per cent) and ‘water shortages’ (5.1 per cent).

Interestingly, only 1.1 per cent of the people said ‘corruption’ was the main problem at the national level, while corruption did not factor at the community level.

The Polls were conducted by the Stone Polling Organisation during the first week of August 2006, using a representative sample of 1,496 eligible voters. It has a margin of error of plus or minus three per cent.

Bruce tops Portia on public speaking

More Jamaicans believe that Bruce Golding, the Opposition and Jamaica Labour Party leader is a more dynamic public speaker than Portia Simpson Miller, the prime minister and People’s National Party president.

Asked who was the more dymanic public speaker, 42 per cent of Jamaicans said Golding, against 39 per cent who said Simpson Miller.

“It is noteworthy, however, that women were almost split on this matter, and that persons 25 years and younger felt that Mrs Simpson Miller was the more dynamic speaker,” the Stone Poll Team said.

This Sunday: The party standings

Last November when the Stone Poll asked voting age Jamaicans which party would they vote for at the next elections if Portia Simpson Miller was leading the PNP and Bruce Golding was leading the JLP the results were:

JLP – 30.8%

PNP- 42.4%

What are they now?

Read the surprising new results this Sunday, only in your Sunday Observer.