‘WAKE-UP CALL’

WESTERN BUREAU:

While there are significant doubts about the Jamaica Labour Party's (JLP) current administration, many Jamaicans are still indifferent in their confidence in the People's National Party (PNP).

These are the findings of a poll conducted by the Don Anderson-led Market Research Services Limited between April 4 and 12. The survey included a total of 1,057 individuals, 18 years and older, who are eligible to vote.

The poll was commissioned by the PNP and has a plus or minus 3 per cent margin of error.

It found that 36 per cent of the respondents rated the JLP Government's performance as poor/very poor against 27 per cent, who gave it a good/very good rating. At the same time, 37 per cent believed that the Government was doing an average job in its handling of the country.

Among those who gave the Government a failing grade, 30 per cent believe that they are simply not performing; 18 per cent are of the view that the JLP administration does not have people's interest at heart, and 17 per cent stated that there is too much corruption in the party. It is important to note that 3.6 per cent of these respondents opted to not expound on their reasoning for the failing grade.

On the flip side, 27 per cent gave the PNP Opposition a failing grade, while 20 per cent gave it a positive rating. Some 53.1 per cent of the respondents believe that the opposition party was doing an average job.

In breaking down the negative ratings, 28.7 per cent of the 285 respondents shared that they believe that the PNP is not doing anything positive to impact the country; 14.2 per cent said the opposition party is all talk with no action; and 8.7 per cent said the party does not have a good track record of running the country.

While analysing the data, Anderson pointed out that more persons rated the JLP's Government positively than the PNP Opposition. However, he told The Gleaner that the Government's positive ratings were somehow still overshadowed by the negatives.

PERFORMANCE RATINGS

“JLP's performance had a stronger positive rating, but it was outstripped by the negative ratings. The PNP had a lower positive rating than the JLP, but their net negative rating was lower than the JLP's,” Anderson explained.

“More persons thought that the JLP was doing a good job than those who thought the PNP was doing a good job. But by the same token, 53.1 per cent of the same persons that we interviewed rated the PNP's performance as average,” he added.

At the same time, Anderson pointed out that more than half of the respondents did not provide a good or bad rating for the opposition party because “there is less to gauge them against”.

“The fact of the matter is that JLP has a lot more against which people can rate them because they are the Government, so there is a higher level of connection, which is why they have a higher level of responses. For the PNP, fewer people were able to determine whether they are good or bad, and that is what resulted in a higher average rating than there was for the JLP. There is less to gauge them against.

“The Government is doing things every day, so, therefore, they have more issues against them that people can rate them … whereas the PNP, because they are in Opposition, they aren't as in the news as the JLP,” the pollster reasoned.

Political commentator Shalman Scott told The Gleaner that the poll should serve as a wake-up call for both political parties. He pointed out that the poll is an indication of the greater belief of Jamaicans across the island as it relates to the two main political parties.

“While there has been some admiration for the PNP, there is a lot of work they have to do because the numbers that are even admiring the PNP are inadequate for the PNP to secure a comfortable victory in the next election, especially if it is called in the short order. More work has to be done, especially against the background that the PNP won't know if the election will be in the short order, or if it is going to be in the long run,” Scott said.

“Both of them need to work. What we saw in the last general election was that only 37 per cent of the electorate came out to vote, and when you disaggregate that 37 per cent as to which of the parties they supported, 21 per cent supported the Jamaica Labour Party and gave it a landslide victory in office while 16 per cent supported the opposition.”

Scott, a former mayor of Montego Bay who ran on the JLP's ticket, further argued that more emphasis should be placed on building voter turnout across the island.

“Both political parties need to pay attention to what is the meaning of this because as the apathy grows and the disenchantment with the political process grows, it will result in less participation of the Jamaican citizenry, and we are going to have serious social problems,” Scott said.

rochelle.clayton@gleanerjm.com