Anybody's race in East Rural St Andrew
Published:Friday | December 2, 2011 | 12:00 AM
By Gary Spaulding
A tight contest awaits in East Rural St Andrew as seasoned political campaigner, the Jamaica Labour Party's (JLP) Joan Gordon-Webley is pitted against People's National Party (PNP) newcomer to representational politics, Damion Crawford.
While Gordon-Webley enjoys a seven per cent lead in popular support in the constituency, it is anybody's race as the PNP (as a party) is close on the heels of the JLP as it trails by a mere three percentage points in the findings of a Gleaner-commissioned Bill Johnson poll conducted in the constituency with a plus or minus five per cent margin of of error.
Just over 40 per cent of the respondents have signalled that they would cast their ballots in favour of Gordon-Webley, who held the seat between 1980 and 1989.
The Gleaner-Bill Johnson poll found that, despite mounting concerns that things are headed in the wrong direction in the constituency, Gordon-Webley, the last-minute replacement for two-term parliamentarian Joseph Hibbert, has strong support.
Forty-one per cent of those polled asserted that they would vote for Gordon-Webley, compared to 34 per cent supporting Crawford, the outspoken former president of the PNP Youth Organisation.
25 per cent undecided
The survey of 480 residents, conducted on November 27, found that 25 five per cent were still undecided.
However, 37 per cent of respondents who are registered to vote plan to vote for the JLP, while 34 per cent favour the PNP, a slim three per cent gap that is within the plus or minus five per cent margin of error.
Gordon-Webley, the very visible former head of the National Solid Waste Management Authority, has raked in favourable responses for her performance at the entity. Forty-eight per cent said they had a favourable opinion of her, while 31 per cent indicated that they harboured unfavourable views.
As far as Crawford is concerned, 38 per cent of the persons polled have a favourable view, while 32 per cent view him unfavourably. Another 30 per cent are in a state of uncertainty.
Fifty-six per cent of the respondents said they voted in 2007 with the other 44 said they did not colour their fingers.
Forty-eight per cent of those who voted said they picked Hibbert, while 46 per cent marked their X for Mikael Phillips. Another six per cent declined to divulge their political preference four years ago. Official electoral data shows that Hibbert, with 8,315 votes, defeated Phillips by 270.
Among those who did not vote four years ago, 33 per cent indicated that they were enumerated and 11 per cent were not.
Of those who plan to vote this time around, 35 per cent said they would cast their ballots in the JLP's favour, while two per cent said they would likely vote for that party, while the PNP remains consistent on 31 per cent with another three per cent saying they might cast their ballots for the party.