Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1307485
15 PN achieves best result in three years KURT SANSONE SUPPORT for the Labour Par- ty stands at 44.2% and that for the Nationalist Party at 32.4%, the November MaltaToday survey shows. Both parties registered im- proved performances over last month, however support for the PL grew at a faster pace than that for the PN. The PL gained four points and reversed a downward trend that started in July. The PN gained just over 2 points and obtained its best result in three years. The gap between the major parties is almost 12 points. Support for ADPD, the new party born out of the merger between Alternatti- va Demokratika and Partit Demokratiku, only managed 0.7% support. Starting from the actual performance of the political parties in the last general election and utilising the sur- vey results to project the cur- rent vote difference, shows that the PL enjoys a lead of just over 38,000 votes, an up- tick of 8,000 over last month. In the 2017 general election, the PL surpassed the PN by 35,280 votes. This assumes that those who are unsure, will vote according to their previous election choice. The survey shows that the PL trumps the PN among men and women, across all age groups and across four of the six regions. The PL registers 36.6% among voters aged 18-35, while the PN scores 29.6%. The same seven-point gap in favour of the PL is evident among those aged between 36 and 50. However, the PL widens its lead progressively in the old- er age groups, registering its best result among those aged 65 and over (52.9%). On a regional basis, the PN gains the upper hand in Gozo with a score of 50.6% against the PL's 27.8%. The PN also is ahead in the Western region with 41.1% versus Labour's 36.4%. In the four other regions, the PL is in front of its rival, registering its best result in the Southern Harbour region (58.1%). Of significance for the PN is the voter retention from the last general election, which now matches that of the PL. The Opposition party re- tains the support of 81.4% of those who voted for it three years' ago, its best result so far. However, the PN contin- ues to lose votes to Labour and 3.3% of those who voted for it in the last general elec- tion will now vote PL. The PL's retention rate stands at 82.4% but the party loses 1.2% of 2017 voters to its rival. Methodology The survey was carried out between Monday 2 Novem- ber 2020 and Friday 6 No- vember 2020. 654 respond- ents opted to complete the survey. Stratified random sampling based on region, age and gender was used to repli- cate the Maltese demograph- ic. The estimated margin of error is 4.8% for a confidence interval of 95% for the over- all results. Demographic and sub-group breakdowns have significantly larger margins of error. maltatoday | SUNDAY • 8 NOVEMBER 2020 NEWS Grech and PN hold head up high Gozo Northern N Harbour S Eastern S Harbour Western 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 38.2% 45.5% 10.6% 49.9% 31.1% 15.2% 43.1% 33.8% 21.8% 57.8% 18.4% 15.2% 8.5% 56.5% 27.0% 12.3% 43.4% 39.2% 16.3% Which political party would you vote for if an election were to be held tomorrow? Overall PL PN AD Did not vote Male Female 18-35 36-50 51-65 65+ Gozo Northern N Harbour S Eastern S Harbour Western Primary Secondary Post-Sec Tertiary 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% 40.3% 30.0% 10.0% 11.7% 77.3% 6.8% 9.0% 72.8% 7.7% 7.0% 11.9% 30.1% 37.1% 43.8% 8.3% 4.4% 8.8% 14.1% 36.8% 27.8% 11.5% 8.7% 44.9% 33.0% 11.1% 18.9% 41.7% 18.1% 12.6% 13.1% 40.1% 32.2% 5.1% 10.4% 39.7% 33.0% 11.6% 39.5% 39.0% 11.4% 10.2% 52.3% 32.1% 12.0% 12.6% 20.1% 36.9% 6.7% 13.6% 39.1% 34.7% 15.0% 10.6% 50.4% 14.7% 10.8% 7.2% 44.4% 27.8% 7.8% 14.6% 47.3% 27.5% 9.5% 40.2% 38.9% 9.5% 9.5% 51.4% 24.8% 12.1% 15.0% 38.3% 22.7% 9.7% 16.7% 27.6% 36.7% 18.3% 11.3% PL PN AD Do not know No vote 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 PL PN AD PD Far-right Don't know Not Voting Historical voting polls The PL gained four points and reversed a downward trend that started in July. The PN gained just over 2 points and obtained its best result in three years. The gap between the major parties is almost 12 points. Support for ADPD, the new party born out of the merger between Alternattiva Demokratika and Partit Demokratiku, only managed 0.7% support Of significance for the PN is the voter retention from the last general election, which now matches that of the PL