The favourability rating of People’s National Party (PNP) candidate Damion Crawford has suffered a five-point decrease — from 41 per cent to 36 per cent — among voters in the Portland Eastern constituency, the latest Bill Johnson poll conducted last weekend has found.

But even more troubling for Crawford is the pollster’s finding that the number of constituents who have an unfavourable opinion of him soared from 13 per cent — when Johnson and his researchers went into Portland Eastern on March 1 and 2 — to a whopping 44 per cent in last weekend’s poll.

A total of 480 residents were questioned in the March 29 and 30 poll, which was commissioned by the Jamaica Observer and Nationwide 90FM. The survey has a sampling error of plus or minus four-and-a-half per cent.

Crawford’s rival, the Jamaica Labour Party’s (JLP’s) Ann-Marie Vaz, also saw an increase in her unfavourability rating — from 17 per cent in the March 1 and 2 survey to 27 per cent in last weekend’s poll. However, she experienced a slight increase in her favourability rating — from 50 per cent in the first poll to 53 per cent in last weekend’s survey.

Both candidates are contesting the seat in this Thursday’s parliamentary by-election which was called to fill the vacancy created by the death, on February 2, 2019, of the PNP’s Dr Lynvale Bloomfield, who had won the constituency in the February 2016 General Election.

Over the past few weeks, Crawford and Vaz have been busy campaigning. However, the fact that Vaz was in the constituency working long before there was ever a thought of a by-election appears to have worked in her favour so far as more voters, in both polls, have admitted seeing her in the last three months.

At the same time, she has maintained her lead over Crawford — 43 per cent to 34 per cent in the March 1 and 3 poll, and 48 per cent to 32 per cent in last weekend’s survey — as the person voters believe would do the best job as member of parliament.