Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1065920
10 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 23 DECEMBER 2018 ADRIAN Delia's trust level has bounced back to 24.7% in December as the strategy to embrace the Simon Busuttil faction appears to have paid off. It is still not time for jubila- tion because the Nationalist Party leader trails the Prime Minister by almost 27 points but the upward movement should come as a relief after a dismal four months. Delia's trust rating increased by almost seven points in De- cember, the MaltaToday sur- vey found, when compared to the November result. The survey captured the af- termath of the fresh infor- mation on the ownership of the Dubai company 17 Black, which saw Delia take a strong stand. The PN leader also used the occasion to reach out to his predecessor and those who form part of his faction within the party. The rapprochement, embod- ied in Delia's warm handshake with Busuttil during the PN general council, appears to have left an impact on Nation- alist voters, who have consist- ently shunned the PN leader. The survey found that Delia enjoyed the trust of 60.8% of those who voted PN in the last election, an uptick of 16 points over the November result. At the same time, the percentage of 2017 PN voters who trusted no one, dropped to 32.8% from 40.7% in November. The numbers will come as good news for PN strategists after the decision in August to try and kick Busuttil out of the party following the Egrant inquiry findings. That deci- sion backfired and Delia had to climb down. In August, Delia's trust rat- ing crashed to 14.8% and only recovered to an average of 18% in the subsequent three months as the PN was riven by internal division. Even so, Delia's latest trust rating is not his highest in 12 months and the Opposition leader still trails Joseph Mus- cat by a mile. The Prime Minister's trust rating stood at 51.3%, a drop of three points on the Novem- ber survey, which saw Muscat hit his highest ever result at 54.5%. The drop can hardly be attributable to the fallout from the 17 Black rev- elations for two reasons: Muscat's November result was in it- self extraordinar- ily high coming on the back of the Budget and very unlikely to be maintained over a stretch of time; the Labour Party mar- ginally increased its poll ratings in De- cember, emerging unscathed by the revelations. The survey was conducted be- tween 6 and 14 December. It appears the 17 Black revela- tions had little or no impact on the popula- tion at large but helped Delia consolidate his own voter base. Muscat slips in Northern region Muscat's trust rating out- stripped Delia's in all age groups, among both men and women, and in all regions bar one. In the Northern region that includes St Paul's Bay, Mellie- ha and Mosta, Delia managed to come ahead of Muscat by a hairline. In this region, Delia obtained a trust rating of 45%, while Muscat scored 44.3%. In Gozo, the Prime Min- ister's trust rating stood at 44.3% as opposed to Delia's 23%. Muscat also beat Delia in the Northern Harbour region (40.5% vs 26%). But the Prime Minister re- mained extremely strong in both southern regions and the west. Muscat's highest trust rat- ing was in the South Eastern region where he scored 74% against Delia's dismal show- ing of 6.2%. In the Southern Harbour region, Muscat en- joyed a trust rating of 60.3% against Delia's 23.7%, while in the Western region, Muscat also enjoyed an absolute ma- jority of 57.6% against the PN leader's 22%. MALTATODAY SURVEY In the last trust barometer of the year, Joseph Muscat enjoys a 27-point lead over Adrian Delia but prospects are looking slightly better for the PN leader, KURT SANSONE reports Nationalists warm up to Adrian Delia Between Joseph Muscat and Adrian Delia, whom do you trust? Trust barometer among other categories An apparent rapprochement, embodied in Delia's warm handshake with Simon Busuttil during the PN general council, appears to have left an impact on Nationalist voters, who have consistently shunned the PN leader