The majority of persons interviewed in the latest

Observer-commissioned Don Anderson Poll said they would have preferred a shorter time between the announcement of the date of the election and the actual date for voting.

At the same time, the poll, conducted between July 27 and 30 among 1,096 registered voters in 87 communities islandwide, found that most persons held a positive view of the Government’s performance, as well as that of the Opposition.

The pollsters also found that Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller enjoyed a higher approval rating than Opposition Leader Bruce Golding. However, the pollsters also pointed out that more people disapprove of Simpson Miller’s performance, compared to Golding.

The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus three per cent.

The wait to vote

The much-awaited election date was announced by the prime minister at a mass meeting in Half-Way-Tree on July 8. Despite the expectation in some quarters that the election would be called for the end of July, it was announced that election day would be August 27, seven weeks later.

This sparked some amount of debate as to the length of time between the announcement and the actual date. This also prompted the inclusion of this question in the latest survey.

Of all persons interviewed in the survey, 53 per cent are of the opinion that the seven weeks between the day of the announcement and the actual date of the election was too long.

“There was support for this position across all the demographic groups, especially so amongst persons in the upper socio-economic group and amongst older persons in the age group 50-59,” said Anderson. “This view contrasted with the 43 per cent who really had no problem with having to wait seven weeks to election day.

Strongest support amongst persons who had no problem with the seven-week wait came from young persons in the 18-24 age group, where the majority, 59 per cent, felt this way.

“In addition to these two positions, a small minority view was that this was too short a period and that more time should have been allowed. Just under four per cent held this view,” said the pollsters.

Majority hold positive view of performance of government

Despite severe criticisms in some quarters, the majority of persons interviewed hold a positive view of the performance of the Government.

The Anderson pollsters said that when they asked voters to rate the performance of the Government, 20 per cent said it has been very good, while another 31 per cent rated it as good. When combined, a total of 51 per cent of respondents felt that the ruling party was doing a good job and rated it positively.

According to Anderson, older persons in the 40-49 age group and middle-income earners were the primary supporters of the view that the Government was doing a very good job.

“On the negative side, 17 per cent felt that Government is doing a bad job and another 15 per cent that it is actually doing a very bad job, so that overall 32 per cent rated the performance negatively,” said the pollsters. “There is then a positive differential of some 19 percentage points between the grouped plus ratings and the grouped negative ratings.”

Anderson also said that 12 per cent had difficulty rating the performance of the Government, while another 4 per cent simply did not respond to this question.

Opposition also viewed positively

A significant number of persons are of the view that the Opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) has been performing positively, the pollsters said.

“Fifteen per cent of all persons interviewed expressed the view that they rated the performance of the Opposition as being very good,” said Anderson. “This is a position that is held primarily by persons in the 25-29 age group and by males, where over 20 per cent in each case are of this view. Coupled with this, some 32 per cent rate the performance as being good, for a combined positive rating of 47 per cent, four percentage points behind that of the PNP government.”

The pollsters said it was instructive that despite continued expressions of displeasure with the performance of the Government in some quarters, the administration is viewed more positively than the Opposition at this time, some four weeks prior to the election date.

“On the negative side, 15 per cent felt that the Opposition was doing a bad job and another 8 per cent that it was doing a very bad job, for a combined negative of 23 per cent, which has to be stacked against the combined positives of the PNP Government, as well as against the positive ratings for the Opposition,” said Anderson.

“The positive differential between the plus ratings and the minus ratings was 24 percentage points, more than the 19 per cent registered by the PNP Government. The fact then, is that whilst the PNP Government has a higher positive rating, it also has a higher negative rating.”

Simpson Miller has higher approval rating than Golding

In a run up on the basis of party leader performance, Simpson Miller has the stronger positive approval rating of the two, Anderson said.

Of all persons interviewed in the survey, 49 per cent expressed the view that they approve of the job that Simpson Miller is doing as prime minister, according to Anderson. Strongest support for this position, he added, came from older persons 40-49 years, those over 60 and from the lower income category of persons.

“Against this level of positives has to be stacked the 35 per cent who disapproved of the job that she is doing as prime minister,” said the pollsters. “This is to be compared to the 46 per cent who approve of the job that Golding is doing as leader of the opposition and the 29 per cent who disapprove of his performance in this regard.”

Added Anderson: “The view is generally held that it is more difficult to grade an opposition and, by extension, easier to assess the performance of the ruling party, because there are more measurable items against which to review performance.

This is evidenced in the difference in the level of don’t knows for each of the leaders. Some 16 per cent either simply did not know how to rate the performance of Simpson Miller and otherwise had no answer. This is to be compared to the 24 per cent who had no position on the rating of Golding as leader of the opposition.”

TOMORROW: Who do voters feel is the best person to lead the country, and the party standings

CLARIFICATION

The Rising Sun and Bell symbols of the PNP and JLP respectively which were used Sunday in the graphic illustrating response to the proposal for a fixed election date could have been interpreted to indicate support for and opposition to the idea. That was not intention, as the data did not give a partisan breakdown of the responses.