ALMOST seven in every 10 Jamaicans have no problem with someone holding dual citizenship sitting in the nation’s Parliament, but an almost equal amount believe that no one with dual citizenship should serve as the country’s prime minister.

That is according to a poll done by the full service data insight agency Bluedot on its own behalf and seen by the Jamaica Observer.

Bluedot polled 1,020 Jamaicans across all 14 parishes between May 22 and June 5. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 per cent.

When asked if a person with dual citizenship should be allowed to sit in Parliament, 66.2 per cent of respondents said yes, while 26.8 per cent said no, and seven per cent said they were not sure.

But when asked if someone with dual citizenship should be able to serve as the prime minister of Jamaica a vast majority of respondents (64.2 per cent) said no, while 28.2 per cent said yes, and seven per cent said they were not sure.

The Bluedot poll followed the recent confirmation by People’s National Party (PNP) President Mark Golding that he holds British citizenship.

Golding has argued that he is a Jamaican citizen by birth and a British citizen by descent and he has not renounced his British citizenship because, based on the constitution, it is not legally necessary for him to do so.

However, almost 80 per cent of the respondents in the Bluedot poll said the fact that someone is a citizen of a Commonwealth country and can legally sit in the Parliament would not change their opposition to that person serving as the country’s prime minister.

In addition, 61 per cent of respondents said that Golding should renounce his British citizenship if he plans to remain in contention to lead the Government, while only 29 per cent said he should not.

The poll also found that the majority of Jamaicans feel a prime minister who has dual citizenship might face a conflict of interest when making decisions for the country with just under 63 per cent saying that was a concern, 25 per cent saying no, and approximately 12 per cent saying they were not sure if a conflict would arise.

With the Golding dual citizenship issue dominating the political space in recent weeks, 31 per cent of the respondents said this had not changed their view of the PNP, while 28 per cent said their opinion had changed somewhat negatively or very negatively. However, 27 per cent said they were either not sure or had no opinion on the PNP.

In the same breath, 39 per cent of respondents said the disclosure about Golding’s dual citizenship is having no significant impact on the PNP, while 37 per cent said it was having a significantly negative impact on the party which is seeking to form Jamaica’s next Government.

More worrying for the PNP, however, is that 53 per cent of the respondents say Golding’s dual citizenship disclosure makes them less likely to view him as a potential prime minister, while 31 per cent said there was no change in their view of the PNP president. A negligible seven per cent of the respondents said they see Golding in a better light due to his dual citizenship.

More than half of the respondents believe Golding should give up his British passport, which he has already indicated that he will not renew, while 25 per cent said he should not.

The latest Bluedot poll closed on the day Jamaica’s longest-serving prime minister, PJ Patterson, weighed in on the dual citizen debate.

Patterson last week argued that qualification for sitting in Jamaica’s Parliament should be based on Jamaican nationality only with the section of the constitution which allows a Commonwealth citizen, other than a citizen of Jamaica, who is resident for at least 12 months to be eligible for parliamentary office, scrapped.