Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1078260
11 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 3 FEBRUARY 2019 NEWS MALTATODAY SURVEY Labour starts EP election race 18 points ahead KURT SANSONE THE European Par- liament election is less than four months away and the Labour Party starts the race 18 points ahead of its rival, a MaltaToday survey shows. Asked who they will vote for in the Euro- pean Parliament elec- tion in May, 42% said PL and 24.4% indi- cated the Nationalist Party. The result repre- sents a decline in sup- port for both major parties when com- pared to the findings of a survey in Decem- ber. The PL loses six points and the PN loses almost five points. On the flip- side, the survey shows that 19.3% of people are uncertain who to vote for, an uptick of 12 points since De- cember. It has to be pointed out that the question asked in the current survey, and all sur- veys to be held until May, is directly linked to the forthcoming European Parliament election and not a hy- pothetical election to be held 'tomorrow'. This may make peo- ple more cautious about their voting in- tentions. The smaller par- ties – the Democratic Party and Alternat- tiva Demokratika – have once again failed to register any progress. Support for the PD drops to 0.3% from 0.9% in Decem- ber and likewise, AD experiences a reduc- tion to 0.4% from 0.7%. The PL is stronger than the PN among women and men, and across all age groups. Like its leader, the PL enjoys stronger sup- port among women than men. The PL emerges as the largest party in all regions, with its strongest showing at 56.6% recorded in the Southern Harbour re- gion. In Gozo, the PL scores 41.5% against the PN's 11.1%. The result confirms the PN's problems in the sister island but shows that despite Delia being hugely unpopular, voters are still willing to support the PN. Methodology The survey was car- ried out between Thursday 21 January and Thursday 28 Jan- uary. 597 respondents opted to complete the survey. Stratified ran- dom sampling based on gender, region and age was used to replicate the Maltese demographics. The estimated margin of error is 5% for a confi- dence interval of 95%. Secondary Post-Sec Tertiary Gozo Northern Northern Harbour South Eastern Southern Harbour Western 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 64.4% 11.2% 20.9% 44.8% 27.8% 22.5% 42.9% 28.6% 25.7% 68.4% 26.9% 55.1% 20.6% 18.3% 44.7% 27.2% 24.3% 58.8% 15.3% 22.9% 67.1% 11.7% 6.1% 15.0% 51.3% 31. 1% 6.8% 10.8% Joseph Muscat Adrian Delia Neither Don't Know For which political party will you vote for if a general election is held tomorrow? PL PN AD PD Do not know No vote 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 42.0% -5.3pp 24.4% -4.6pp 19.3% 12.2pp 12.8% February (%) PP change from Dec 2018 Voting intentions among different categories of voters All PL 2017 PN 2017 Did not vote 2017 Male Female 18-35 36-50 51-65 65+ Primary Secondary Post-Sec Tertiary Gozo Northern Northern Harbour South Eastern Southern Harbour Western 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% 42.0% 24.4% 19.3% 12.8% 82.7% 11.8% 58.0% 21.1% 16.9% 10.7% 54.3% 32.7% 39.0% 26.9% 16.1% 17.4% 46.0% 21.1% 23.4% 6.7% 34.4% 19.3% 27.8% 17.1% 38.0% 21.6% 24.3% 14.0% 49.4% 20.7% 12.8% 14.8% 46.9% 39.3% 10.8% 49.8% 32.7% 6.4% 8.9% 52.4% 16.8% 19.9% 9.7% 33.1% 29.5% 16.2% 21.2% 24.9% 30.1% 27.9% 14.0% 41.5% 11.1% 47.4% 39.0% 24.3% 24.2% 11.4% 34.3% 28.3% 20.1% 14.5% 45.1% 17.0% 16.6% 20.4% 56.6% 21.6% 11.5% 10.3% 40.9% 34.1% 12.4% 10.0% PL PN AD PD Don't know No vote 40 45 50 55 South Eastern Southern Harbour Western 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 58.8% 15.3% 22.9% 67.1% 11.7% 6.1% 15.0% 51.3% 31. 1% 6.8% 10.8% Joseph Muscat Adrian Delia Neither Don't Know For which political party will you vote for if a general election is held tomorrow? PL PN AD PD Do not know No vote 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 42.0% -5.3pp 24.4% -4.6pp 19.3% 12.2pp 12.8% February (%) PP change from Dec 2018 Voting intentions among different categories of voters All PL 2017 PN 2017 Did not vote 2017 Male Female 18-35 36-50 51-65 65+ Primary Secondary Post-Sec Tertiary Gozo Northern Northern Harbour South Eastern Southern Harbour Western 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% 42.0% 24.4% 19.3% 12.8% 82.7% 11.8% 58.0% 21.1% 16.9% 10.7% 54.3% 32.7% 39.0% 26.9% 16.1% 17.4% 46.0% 21.1% 23.4% 6.7% 34.4% 19.3% 27.8% 17.1% 38.0% 21.6% 24.3% 14.0% 49.4% 20.7% 12.8% 14.8% 46.9% 39.3% 10.8% 49.8% 32.7% 6.4% 8.9% 52.4% 16.8% 19.9% 9. 7% 33.1% 29.5% 16.2% 21.2% 24.9% 30.1% 27.9% 14.0% 41.5% 11.1% 47.4% 39.0% 24.3% 24.2% 11.4% 34.3% 28.3% 20.1% 14.5% 45.1% 17.0% 16.6% 20.4% 56.6% 21.6% 11.5% 10.3% 40.9% 34.1% 12.4% 10.0% PL PN AD PD Don't know No vote -5 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 Jan-15 Jun-15 Oct-15 Jan-16 Feb-16 Mar-16 Apr-16 May-16 Sep-16 Nov-16 Mar-17 30-Apr-17 07-May-17 14-May-17 21-May-17 28-May-17 1-June-17 10-Oct-17 19-Nov-17 4-Feb-18 4-Mar-18 6-May-18 3-June-18 5-Aug-18 2-Sept-18 7-Oct-18 11-Nov-18 23-Dec-18 03-Feb-19 PL PN AD PD Patriots/others Don't know Not Voting Historical party ratings since 2015 For which political party will you vote if a general election is held tomorrow? Voting intentions among different categories of voters KURT SANSONE THE European Par- liament election is less than four months away and the Labour Party starts the race 18 points ahead of its rival, a MaltaToday survey shows. Asked who they will vote for in the Euro- pean Parliament elec- tion in May, 42% said PL and 24.4% indi- cated the Nationalist Party. The result repre- sents a decline in sup- port for both major parties when com- pared to the findings of a survey in Decem- ber. The PL loses six points and the PN loses almost five points. On the flip- side, the survey shows that 19.3% of people are uncertain who to vote for, an uptick of 12 points since De- cember. It has to be pointed out that the question asked in the current survey, and all sur- veys to be held until May, is directly linked to the forthcoming European Parliament election and not a hy- pothetical election to be held 'tomorrow'. This may make peo- ple more cautious about their voting in- tentions. The smaller par- ties – the Democratic Party and Alternat- tiva Demokratika – have once again failed to register any progress. Support for the PD drops to 0.3% from 0.9% in Decem- ber and likewise, AD experiences a reduc- tion to 0.4% from 0.7%. The PL is stronger than the PN among women and men, and across all age groups. Like its leader, the PL enjoys stronger sup- port among women than men. The PL emerges as the largest party in all regions, with its strongest showing at 56.6% recorded in the Southern Harbour re- gion. In Gozo, the PL scores 41.5% against the PN's 11.1%. The result confirms the PN's problems in the sister island but shows that despite Delia being hugely unpopular, voters are still willing to support the PN. Methodology The survey was car- ried out between Thursday 21 January and Thursday 28 Jan- uary. 597 respondents opted to complete the survey. Stratified ran- dom sampling based on gender, region and age was used to replicate the Maltese demographics. The estimated margin of error is 5% for a confi- dence interval of 95%. Result represents a decline in support for both major parties when compared to the f indings of a survey in December