Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1339768
8 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 14 FEBRUARY 2021 NEWS Rate The Minister Survey Top ministers ranked by overall preference, and then by party allegiance 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 Chris Fearne Ian Borg Miriam Dalli Evarist Bartolo Byron Camilleri 25.2% 27.0% 25.2% 16.0% 28.6% 2.0% 2.6% 1.8% 2.9% 2.3% 0.4% 4.8% 2.1% 4.6% Overall PL voters PN voters Top three ministers in each age demographic PL voters PN voters 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% 27.0% 28.6% 4.6% 25.2% 2.0% 2.2% 2.9% 4.8% Chris Fearne Ian Borg Byron Camilleri Clyde Caruana Justyne Caruana Miriam Dalli Evarist Bartolo Owen Bonnici Top five ministers according to voting allegiance CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Both ministers have the high- est visibility in government. Fearne has captained the ad- ministration's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, while Borg is responsible for the larg- est-ever roads overhaul. Since October, Borg's score increased five points, possibly a reflection of voter appreciation for major road projects that are coming to fruition. Fearne ranks top among peo- ple who vote for the Nationalist Party and second among La- bour Party voters. He was voted as best performer by 25.2% of PN voters and 27% of PL voters. Borg ranks first among PL voters, with 28.6%, and only just makes the top five among PN voters with 2%. Overall, Fearne retains top spot across all ages and all re- gions, bar the Western region, where Borg is considered to be the best performer. The Western region comprises the localities that form part of the electoral districts where Borg contests. Newcomer Miriam Dalli, who was co-opted to parliament last October and subsequent- ly made energy minister in a Cabinet reshuffle a month lat- er, comes in third in the overall rankings with 2.6%. It appears Robert Abela's gamble to bring Dalli back home from the European Par- liament and co-opt her to par- liament has paid off with the wider electorate. Foreign Minister Evarist Bar- tolo and Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri, complete the top five spots with 2.3% and 2.1% respectively. Bartolo placed third place in the survey carried out last Oc- tober. This is Camilleri's first appearance in the top five spots. A breakdown of results by po- litical allegiance shows that Na- tionalist voters rank Fearne in the top spot, followed by Bar- tolo with 4.8%. The pair also placed in the top two spots for PN voters last October. Miriam Dalli comes in third among PN voters with 2.9%, followed by Education Minister Justyne Caruana (2.2%) and Ian Borg (2%). Caruana was made minis- ter again last November af- ter having resigned in January 2020 because of controversy surrounding her ex-husband's connection with murder sus- pect Yorgen Fenech. Among Labour voters, Borg improves over his performance last October and pips Fearne to the top spot. Byron Camilleri ranks third with 4.6%, followed by new- comer Clyde Caruana with 2.9%. It appears PL voters have quickly warmed up to Carua- na who was co-opted to par- liament in October last year and subsequently made finance minister. He was formerly chief of staff to Prime Minister Rob- ert Abela. Justyne Caruana placed fifth among Labour voters with 2.7%. Methodology The survey was carried out between Monday 1 February 2021 and Friday 5 February 2021. 649 respondents opted to complete the survey. Stratified random sampling based on re- gion, age and gender was used to replicate the Maltese demo- graphic. The estimated margin of error is 4.9% for a confidence interval of 95% for the overall results. Demographic and sub- group breakdowns have signif- icantly larger margins of error. Fearne, Borg retain top spots in ministerial ranking survey Chris Fearne and Ian Borg retain top spots and newcomer Miriam Dalli makes the top five in MaltaToday's survey on best performing ministers. Kurt Sansone reports