Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1190498
8 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 8 DECEMBER 2019 MALTATODAY SURVEY KURT SANSONE PEOPLE watched with bated breath the televised address in which Joseph Muscat last Sun- day announced he would be stepping down on 12 January. His announcement was in- evitable in the face of mount- ing protests and internal party pressure but survey results suggest the decision has split opinion in the country. Muscat's terms of departure were welcomed by 43.2% of people polled in a MaltaToday survey that asked whether they agreed with the Prime Minis- ter's decision to step down in January. Nationalist voters were more welcoming of the decision than Labour voters. The re- sults show that 48.7% of those who voted PN in the last gen- eral election agreed with the departure in January. On the other hand, 37.8% of Labour voters supported the PM's de- cision. Gozo was the only region where Muscat's decision was welcomed by a majority. On the sister island, 62.4% agreed that the PM should step down in January. Consensus to leave However, overall, there were 56.8% who disagreed with Muscat's decision. When asked what alterna- tive course of action the Prime Minister should have taken, just over a quarter (26.4%) of these believed Muscat should have carried on with his man- date, and a slightly larger co- hort (27.3%) wanted him to resign immediately and have his deputy Chris Fearne serve as acting prime minister. Almost half (46.3%) of those who did not agree with Mus- cat's decision, were however, unable to say what course of action the Prime Minister should have taken. Half of Labour voters (50.3%) who did not agree with Mus- cat's decision believed he should have carried on with his mandate, while 7.5% felt that he should have resigned immediately. The rest (42.2%) could not say what should have happened. Nationalist voters who disa- greed with the Prime Minis- ter's terms of departure, were less forgiving. Of these, half (50.6%) expected him to resign immediately and have Chris Fearne appointed acting prime minister. Only 1.8% of PN vot- ers suggested Muscat should continue with his mandate, with the rest (47.7%) unsure of what should have happened. The results suggest that Muscat's announcement to leave next year when his party would have elected its leader left many people confused and fragmented public opinion. However, there appears to be a broad consensus that Mus- cat's position was no longer tenable. People agree: Muscat must go Do you agree with Muscat's decision to leave on 12 January 2020? Muscat resignation Yes No 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 43.2% 56.8% Of those who say no, should Muscat: Resign now Carry on with mandate Don't know 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 27.3% 26.4% 46.3% Do you agree with Muscat's decision to leave on 12 January 2020? Overall PL voter PN voter Will not vote Voted PL 2017 Voted PN 2017 M F 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 56.8% 43.2% 63.4% 36.7% 47.7% 52.4% 60.6% 39.4% 62.2% 37.8% 51.3% 48.7% 56.8% 43.3% 56.8% 43.2% 63.6% 36.4% 59.1% 40.9% 53.0% 47.0% 49.6% 50.5% 48.3% 51.7% 57.0% 43.0% 50.9% 49.1% 62.5% 37.5% 37.6% 62.4% 56.5% 43.5% 57.5% 42.5% 64.1% 35.9% 58.6% 41.4% 53.6% 46.4% No Yes Overall PL voter PN voter Will not vote Voted PL 2017 Voted PN 2017 M F 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 26.4% 46.3% 27.3% 54.9% 40.6% 48.9% 51.1% 11.7% 46.1% 42.3% 50.3% 42.2% 7.5% 47.7% 50.6% 21.9% 47.5% 30.5% 31.1% 45.0% 23.9% 20.6% 43.5% 35.9% 29.2% 38.5% 32.3% 27.8% 51.0% 21.2% 29.7% 52.8% 17.5% 38.4% 52.3% 9.3% 33.8% 46.6% 19.6% 24.6% 52.6% 22.8% 11.2% 40.6% 48.1% 19.7% 59.5% 20.8% 20.1% 46.7% 33.2% 24.5% 51.3% 24.2% 28.3% 39.9% 31.8% 41.8% 40.9% 17.3% 19.5% 43.1% 37.4% Carry on with mandate Don't know Resign now Of those who say no, should Muscat: Trust ratings between PN leader Adrian Delia and Labour exponents touted for possible Labour unscathed by crisis that has rocked Castille THE political crisis caused by the dark shadow of murder on Castille does not appear to have dented the Labour Party's support, a MaltaToday survey found. The party in government en- joys the support of 43.1%, a dip of one point over the November survey. But the results also show that the Nationalist Party has failed to capitalise on the widespread anger and turmoil caused by the damning revelations that have pushed Joseph Muscat to resign. The PN enjoys the support of 27.6%, an increase of less than a percentage point. The gap be- tween the parties stands at 15.5 points. The survey was conducted be- tween Monday 2 December and Friday 6 December. It was held in the week immediately after Prime Minister Joseph Muscat announced that he would be stepping down after business- man Yorgen Fenech implicated his former chief-of-staff Keith Schembri in the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia. The result gives a snapshot of the popular mood at this junc- ture but it also falls in line with the trend that has been regis- tered since the last general elec- tion. The PL trumps the PN across all age groups, among men and women, and across all regions bar one. In the Western region, the PN overtakes the PL with 39.9% of support against 35.2%. However, contrary to previous surveys it is only in one region that the PL's support hits an ab- solute majority – the Southern Harbour area, a traditional bas- tion of Labour support, where the PL registers 58.9%. The PL also retains 84.4% of those who voted for it in the last general election, as opposed to the PN, where the retention rate is 65.2%. There are also 2.1% of 2017 PN voters who say they will vote Labour but only 0.6% of PL voters who will switch al- legiance. The PN is still hounded by a large section of its support base that insists it will not vote (16.7%) or is unsure how to vote (12.8%). The survey suggests that de- spite the political crisis that has rocked the Labour government, people are still not seeing a vi- able alternative. The results broadly tally with the findings of a survey pub- lished by It-Torċa last week, which put the PL on the same margin of victory it obtained in the 2017 general election. Reeling under immense internal pressure and mounting protests, Joseph Muscat announced last Sunday he would be stepping down in January. How did people judge his decision? Labour enjoys the support of 43.1%, a dip of one point over the November survey. But the Nationalist Party has failed to capitalise on the widespread anger and turmoil