RAZOR-THIN

There would be a struggle for supremacy between the country’s two main political parties if a general election were to be called in the immediate future, with the Opposition People’s National Party (PNP) holding a razor-thin lead over the Governing Jamaica Labour Party (JLP).

That is according to the 29.5 per cent of respondents in the latest RJRGLEANER Communications Group-commissioned poll, who said they would vote for the PNP versus the 26.1 per cent who said they favoured voting for the JLP.

Those who have not yet made up their minds accounted for 23.8 per cent of respondents, while 20.6 per cent said they will not vote.

The margin of error, in the survey carried out by the Don Anderson-led Market Research Services Limited, is plus or minus three per cent at the 95 per cent confidence level.

A total of 1,010 Jamaicans over the age of 18 years who are registered to vote across all parishes participated in the survey.

Twenty-five per cent received random calls as part of data verification.

Matched against similar polls conducted on behalf of the RJRGLEANER Group by Anderson and team in 2022 and 2021, the PNP has increased its favourability by approximately 12.5 percentage points.

The JLP, when compared to 2022, saw its favourability decline by 4.9 percentage points but is on equal footing in comparison to 2021.

Ronald Thwaites, who represented the Kingston Central constituency in Parliament on a PNP ticket, said the findings are reflective of the own goals scored by the governing party in recent times.

He said this was “very unfortunate” and was worsened by the party being “unhelpfully stubborn” in responding to the concerns of Jamaicans regarding transparency and constitutional reform, among other things.

Thwaites said that, on the other hand, the PNP has given the impression that it is healing its wounds and is choosing candidates who are promising.

He said, too, that the party, previously dogged by infighting, bitter leadership battles and bruising elections losses, has begun to put forward proposals for government, evidenced by its annual conference last month.

“If I have a concern, which is a criticism of my own party, it is that I think they need to be far more explicit now as to what they would do so as to attract people’s support,” he told The Gleaner yesterday.

Representatives of the governing party, from whom The Gleaner sought comment, could not be reached.

Family tradition and loyalty topped the reasons respondents said they would vote for the JLP and this was followed closely by the party being better able to manage the economy. They also indicated that they would vote for the governing party because it has the country’s best interest at heart, has a better track record of managing the country and is the more organised party.

Jamaicans who would vote for the PNP also indicated that they would do so because of tradition and loyalty as the top indicator. The party having the country’s best interest at heart; it being better able to manage the economy; having a better track record of managing the country; and looking after or catering to the poor rounded out the top five reasons given.

Meanwhile, 30 per cent of respondents indicated that they intend to vote in the next general election, 6.7 per cent noted that they will quite likely vote and 18.7 per cent said they may go out to vote.

Jamaicans who confirmed that they do not intend to vote accounted for 25.3 per cent of those polled, while 19.3 per cent shared that they may not go out to vote.

kimone.francis@gleanerjm.com