Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1418273
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 10 OCTOBER 2021 8 MALTATODAY SURVEY KURT SANSONE GOVERNMENT is judged positively by voters for its handling of the economy and ensuring people have money in their pockets, a MaltaToday survey shows. However, it fails miserably in its fight against corruption and the environ- ment. On migration government is judged negatively even if less harshly than corruption and the environment. The survey asked respondents to judge government's performance in five spe- cific areas: the economy, the environ- ment, the fight against corruption, im- migration and money in their pockets. Respondents were also asked which of these five issues was the most impor- tant to them. The results show that 39.5% of people believe the economy is the most impor- tant issue to them, followed by 29.4% who said money in their pockets. The environment placed third with 21%, while the fight against corruption and immigration were mentioned by 7.3% and 1% respectively. This means that on the two issues that matter most to voters, the Labour gov- ernment receives a positive judgement for its performance. This suggests that on bread and butter issues the government is in tune with people's expectations. It is less so on the environment, which is a quality of life issue and for which Labour has received ample criticism. But the findings also show that al- though government is judged negative- ly on corruption, even by Labour voters, the issue is not high on the priority list for people. In line with historical trends on voter concerns that show migration becom- ing an issue only when boat arrivals start picking up, the matter is absolutely not a priority for voters at this juncture. The survey was carried out between Monday 27 September 2021 and Wednesday 6 October 2021. On the issues that matter, government gets positive marks except the environment Perception of government performance All PL Now PN Now No vote Now PL 2017 PN 2017 Didn't vote 2017 Male Female 16-35 36-50 51-65 65+ Primary Secondary Post-Sec Tertiary Gozo Northern N Harbour S Eastern S Harbour Western 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% 39.5% 29.4% 21.0% 7.3% 50.0% 33.7% 12.4% 24.1% 34.5% 20.8% 16.5% 28.9% 18.6% 41.7% 8.7% 51.4% 31.4% 13.5% 24.8% 28.3% 28.4% 15.6% 38.5% 26.0% 24.9% 6.9% 38.8% 27.0% 23.6% 8.0% 40.2% 31.6% 18.5% 6.6% 33.3% 28.3% 28.3% 8.5% 41.7% 27.6% 18.4% 9.5% 41 .5% 39.6% 12.6% 42.0% 23.0% 23.6% 46.6% 26.2% 10.7% 8.3% 47.1% 34.5% 13.0% 36.8% 31.7% 21.0% 7.5% 26.4% 20.9% 37.6% 14.0% 56.1% 23.3% 13.7% 23.4% 28.1% 39.4% 9.1% 42.9% 28.1% 16.4% 9.3% 31.4% 41.2% 16.7% 6.4% 46.1% 34.5% 16.9% 44.2% 17.2% 21.6% 10.0% Economy Disposable income Environment Fight against corruption Immigration Respondents asked to judge government's performance in five specific areas Which of these five issues was the most important to you? All 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% 39.5% 29.4% 21.0% 7.3% Economy Disposable income Environment Fight against corruption Immigration Perception of government performance All PL Now PN Now No vote Now PL 2017 PN 2017 Didn't vote 2017 Male Female 16-35 36-50 51-65 65+ Primary Secondary Post-Sec Tertiary Gozo Northern N Harbour S Eastern S Harbour Western 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% 39.5% 29.4% 21.0% 7.3% 50.0% 33.7% 12.4% 24.1% 34.5% 20.8% 16.5% 28.9% 18.6% 41.7% 8.7% 51.4% 31.4% 13.5% 24.8% 28.3% 28.4% 15.6% 38.5% 26.0% 24.9% 6.9% 38.8% 27.0% 23.6% 8.0% 40.2% 31.6% 18.5% 6.6% 33.3% 28.3% 28.3% 8.5% 41.7% 27.6% 18.4% 9.5% 41.5% 39.6% 12.6% 42.0% 23.0% 23.6% 46.6% 26.2% 10.7% 8.3% 47.1% 34.5% 13.0% 36.8% 31.7% 21.0% 7.5% 26.4% 20.9% 37.6% 14.0% 56.1% 23.3% 13.7% 23.4% 28.1% 39.4% 9.1% 42.9% 28.1% 16.4% 9.3% 31.4% 41.2% 16.7% 6.4% 46.1% 34.5% 16.9% 44.2% 17.2% 21.6% 10.0% Economy Disposable income Environment Fight against corruption Immigration Respondents asked to judge government's performance in five specific areas Which of these five issues was the most important to you? All 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% 39.5% 29.4% 21.0% 7.3% Economy Disposable income Environment Fight against corruption Immigration Economy The overall results show that 53.9% of voters gave government a good or very good performance. Only 11.1% judged government's performance as bad or very bad. Labour voters overwhelmingly gave the government a positive rating: 82.5% of those who voted for the La- bour Party in 2017 judged the perfor- mance as good or very good. Nationalist voters are not as ap- preciative but their judgement is not negative. While the absolute majority of PN voters (57.2%) believe govern- ment's handling of the economy is 'so and so', 19.6% judged it to be good and 20.9% believe the government's management of the economy is bad or very bad. Money in your pocket Overall results show that 41.3% of voters believe government's handling of this matter is good or very good. This contrasts with 19.5% who judged government badly or very badly. When the figures are analysed by political allegiance, they show that 61.9% of Labour voters and 17.3% of Nationalist voters, judge govern- ment's performance as good or very good. PN voters are more critical with 40.1% of them giving government a negative rating (bad or very bad) and 39.8% describing government's per- formance as 'so and so'. What do the findings show? Respondents were asked to judge the government's performance by indicating whether it was: very good, good, so and so, bad, or very bad MaltaToday polls respondents on five specific issues to rate government's performance