VOTE DIVIDE

Nearly one in three Jamaicans say they cannot identify a single area they believe the Dr Andrew Holness administration has excelled in since 2020, months before the next parliamentary election is due.

At the same time, roughly one in four Jamaicans could not single out any area they believe the Government has mismanaged.

The findings are from the latest RJRGLEANER-commissioned Don Anderson poll, conducted between May 18 and June 7.

“The responses highlight the absence of objectivity and, instead, a falling in line behind their support for respective parties in assessing the worth of many of the issues raised in the poll. At the moment then, there is a paucity of independent thinking and more of a lining up behind the support for the respective parties,” Anderson told The Gleaner on Tuesday.

Of the 1,033 participants aged 18 years or older, 29.2 per cent said “nothing, don’t know or not sure” when asked what they would say the Government has done well during its term of office since 2020.

That was followed up by 19.8 per cent of participants who said improved infrastructure; 10.1 per cent who said increased or improved social benefits, including the Programme of Advancement Through Health and Education and National Insurance Scheme benefits; 9.2 per cent who said its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic; and 5.7 per cent who said the increase in the income tax threshold.

The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus three per cent.

Anderson, a veteran pollster whose Market Research Services Limited team administered the survey, said most of the positives identified have to do with improvements to the social fabric of the society, personal welfare and factors that should redound to the benefit of individuals and the general population.

“The most significant of these was related to road repair and construction, which is seen as an indirect benefit to the population and hence could be associated with social positives that they have tried hard to convey,” Anderson told The Gleaner.

He said older persons were the ones most impressed by the infrastructure work that the Government has done, while younger persons were more minded to speak to the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It is clear from the data that the various positives appealed to wide cross sections of the population by age and by gender, meaning that the for each, a different demographic appeared to be more pleased than others,” Anderson said.

“Collectively then the various factors highlighted as positive achievements appeared to have been well received by a wide cross section of the population,” he added.

It should be noticed nonetheless, Anderson said, that the largest single response to the question as to what the Government has done well was from 29 per cent of all persons interviewed.

He said this view was largely held by persons who said they intended to vote for the opposition People’s National Party (PNP) and lends understanding from the perspective of the extent to which the poll findings have been polarised on the basis of intended party support.

On the other hand, asked what they believed was the Government’s biggest shortcoming during its term of office since 2020, twenty-four per cent of respondents said “nothing, don’t know or not sure”.

That cohort was followed by 15.1 per cent of respondents who said the Government presided over poor infrastructure, 13.1 per cent increased cost of living, 10.2 per cent job unavailability or less desired jobs, including call centre, and 9.3 per cent said health care services to round out the top five.

Anderson said some of the factors highlighted as negatives by the respondents also are mentioned among the positives of achievement.

Added to that, he said the 24 per cent who said the Government has handled nothing badly indicated that they would be voting for the governing Jamaica Labour Party.

“There is no contradiction here, these were mentioned by other persons in the sample. Topping this list is the issue of infrastructure, which it should be noted is a strong positive achievement mentioned by others. So the infrastructure is clearly an important measure of the performance of the government,” he said.

Pointing to the 13 per cent who blame the Government for the increase in the cost of living and the 10 per cent who ascribe to them the blame for the loss of jobs, the pollster said an analysis of these findings and these negatives point mainly to persons who say they intend to vote for the PNP “and hence lines were drawn again on the basis of political support”.

kimone.francis@gleanerjm.com