Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1234806
14 MALTATODAY SURVEY maltatoday | SUNDAY • 12 APRIL 2020 KURT SANSONE ROBERT Abela's trust rating has skyrocketed again at a time when the country faces its worst crisis since the Second World War, a MaltaToday survey shows. Trust in the Prime Minister now stands at 62.4%, equivalent to the rating achieved last Febru- ary in the first survey since Abela became leader. The latest result represents an almost seven-point increase since March. Opposition leader Adrian De- lia's trust rating stands at 17.3%, less than a percentage point in- crease since March, with the only significant gain being in Gozo. A 45-point gap separates the two leaders. Abela was elected leader of the Labour Party in January as the country faced a major political crisis linked to the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia. Since then he has had to deal with the resignation of former Gozo minister Justyne Caruana, a corruption scandal involving the police force's motorcycle section, and mounting international pres- sure to strengthen Malta's fight against money laundering. The outbreak of the coro- navirus pandem- ic in March saw Abela c a p t a i n i n g a country brought to its knees by a virus that has created a glob- al health and eco- nomic crisis. Despite this baptism of fire, Ab- ela's trust rating has remained strong, trumping his political rival, across both sexes, all age groups and all regions. The Prime Minister also beats Delia across the spectrum of educational lev- els. Significantly, Abela also man- ages to earn the trust of 25.9% of those who voted for the Na- tionalist Party in the last general election. Who trusts Abela? The Prime Minister has a high- er trust rating among women than men but in each case, he is miles ahead of Delia. Abela earns the trust of 66% of women and 59.4% of men, as op- posed to Delia's 16.1% and 18.3% respectively. Abela's trust rating soars above the 60% mark across the spec- trum of ages between 18 and 65, dropping to 51.4% among those over 65. His strongest trust rating is among those aged between 51 and 65, where he clocks 69.7%, followed by the 18-35 age brack- et, where he registers a rating of 65.9%. Analysing the results on the basis of educational attainment, Abela registers the highest trust rating among those with a pri- mary level of education (70.2%) but beats Delia hands down across all groups. Among the tertiary-educated, a traditional bastion of PN support, Abela earns the trust of 61.9%, against Delia's 6.8%. The tertiary e d u c a t e d are also the most like- ly to trust none of the two l e a d e r s (22%). A b e - la ob- t a i n s a n a b - s o l u t e m a j o r i - ty across all regions bar Gozo, where he registers 45.6%. The Gozo result is significantly down from the 62.3% trust rating Abela received last February and 63.5% last month. The reason for this may be traced to the perceived lack of preparedness in Gozo to deal with the coronavirus pandem- ic, especially since the promised state-of-the-art general hospital has not yet materialised. The Prime Minister's strongest showing is in the Southern Har- bour, a traditional Labour strong- hold, where Abela scores 73.2%, followed by the South-Eastern Robert Abela's trust rating soars during coronavirus crisis Between Robert Abela and Adrian Delia whom do you trust most? Robert Abela Adrian Delia Neither Don't know 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 62.4% 6.5pp 17.3% 12.8% -10.6pp 7.4% 15 March 2020 pp change Mar 2020 Trust barometer among different categories of voters ALL PL PN Didn't vote Male Female 18-35 36-50 51-65 65+ Post-Sec Primary Secondary Tertiary Gozo Northern N Harbour S Eastern S Harbour Western 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 62.4% 17.3% 12.8% 7.4% 94.8% 25.8% 40.8% 25.7% 7.6% 33.1% 20.9% 43.5% 59.4% 18.3% 14.3% 8.0% 66.0% 16.1% 11.1% 6.8% 65.9% 9.3% 21.4% 60.3% 16.1% 16.2% 7.5% 69.7% 16.2% 6.7% 7.4% 51.4% 31.6% 13.2% 70.2% 19.6% 10.1% 65.4% 22.8% 6.2% 57.2% 19.5% 16.6% 6.7% 61.9% 6.8% 22.0% 9.2% 45.6% 21.5% 9.0% 23.9% 63.9% 8.4% 13.4% 14.3% 59.5% 19.6% 16.0% 65.6% 27.6% 73.2% 15.5% 6.4% 52.6% 6.7% 35.0% Robert Abela Adrian Delia Trust neither Don't know Which political party would you vote for if a general election were to be held tomorrow? ALL 49.1% 23.3% 18.7% 7.2% PL PN AD Do not know No vote