Significantly more Jamaicans polled in the latest survey by Bill Johnson say that Prime Minister Andrew Holness would do a better job as head of Government than Opposition Leader Dr Peter Phillips.

In fact, in the latest poll conducted July 9-12, 2020, support for Holness — the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) leader — jumped nine percentage points since a March 12-15, 2020 poll conducted by Johnson while Phillips saw no gain or loss in support in both polls. The March poll was not published due to the outbreak of the novel coronavirus in Jamaica.

Both polls, Johnson explained, used a sample size of 1,200 voting-age Jamaicans across the island and have a sampling error of plus or minus 2.5 per cent.

Johnson said when his researchers went into the field in July and asked Jamaicans to say who they believe would do a better job as prime minister, 66 per cent of respondents said Holness, 13 per cent said Dr Phillips, 20 per cent were undecided, and one per cent refused to answer.

In the March survey, 57 per cent of respondents said Holness, 13 per cent said Phillips, 28 per cent were undecided, and two per cent refused to answer.

The top three reasons given by voters for choosing Holness were that he is doing a good job, is young, and is seen as a good leader.

In Phillips’s case he is regarded as experienced, cares about people, and would do a better job.

“Since our last survey in March, Holness has increased his lead over Phillips from 44 points to 53 points, or from a ratio of 4½ to 1 to 5 to 1,” Johnson said in his analysis of the findings.

He also pointed out that the people who voted for Phillips’s People’s National Party (PNP) in the 2016 General Election “are evenly divided, 38 per cent to 38 per cent, between Holness and Phillips”.

Additionally, Johnson said his team found that support for Holness “correlates inversely with age, from 73 per cent among those 18 to 24 years, to 58 per cent for those 65 and older”.

At the same time, support for Phillips in the 18 to 24 age group was 11 per cent and 18 per cent among those 65 years and older.