Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1443447
8 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 16 JANUARY 2022 MALTATODAY SURVEY KURT SANSONE ROBERT Abela's trust rating at 47.3% has taken a four-point hit but Bernard Grech has failed to capitalise on the Prime Minister's woes, MaltaToday's January survey shows. Grech's trust rating stands at 26%, a decline of 0.5 points over last month's findings. The gap between the leaders sees Abe- la ahead by 21.3 points. However, the survey shows that more people now trust none of the two ma- jor leaders. With 21.1% saying they trust neither Abela nor Grech, this is the highest it has been since September 2020. The Labour leader trounces Grech across all age groups and in five of the six regions. Abela enjoys the trust of 34.5% of those aged between 16 and 35 against Grech's 25.3%. The Prime Minister's strongest showing is among those aged between 51 and 65, where he captures 57.1% as opposed to Grech's lowly 18%. Among pensioners, Abela registers a trust rating of 53.9% and Grech 35%. On a geographical basis, Abela manag- es to pip Grech in the Northern Harbour region, reversing the result obtained by the respective political parties. In Gozo, Abela registers 60.3% against Grech's 22%. The PL leader's perfor- mance hits its highest mark in the Southern Harbour region where he clocks 67.7% against Grech's 17.1%. In the South-Eastern region, Abela hits 59.5%, while the PN leader crashes to a dismal 9.5%, his worst result. The PN leader wins the trust battle in the Western region, where he receives the support of 33% of voters as opposed to Abela's 24.8%. However, this is also the region with the highest cohort of distrustful voters with 24.7% saying they trust none of the two. Distrustful Nationalists Abela enjoys the trust of 83.9% of those who voted for the PL in the 2017 election, while Grech secures the trust of 62.6% of those who voted PN. The Opposition leader is hampered by distrustful Nationalists with 23.6% saying they trust no one. But his life be- comes more complicated because 9.2% of 2017 PN voters trust Abela. On the flip side, only 1.8% of 2017 PL voters trust Grech. While Abela is more popular than his party, Grech trails the PN. This suggests the PL has bigger growth potential, something that has been evident over a long period of time. Abela's trust takes a hit but Grech fails to capitalise Methodology The survey was carried out between Wednesday 5 January 2022 and Wednesday 12 January 2022. 647 respondents opted to complete the survey. Stratified random sampling based on region, age and gender was used to replicate the Maltese demo- graphic. The estimated margin of error is 4.2% for a confidence interval of 95% for the overall results. Demographic and sub-group breakdowns have significantly larger margins of error. Trust Barometer and Political Survey Robert Abela Bernard Grech Neither Don't know 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 47.3% 26.0% 21.1% 5.6% 16 Jan 2022 pp change 5 Dec 2021 Between Robert Abela and Bernard Grech, who do you trust the most? Full demographics comparing trust between Abela and Grech OVERALL PL now PN now Will not vote now Uncertain 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 47.3% 26.0% 21.1% 98.6% 87.0% 9.1% 15.2% 69.6% 12.7% 17.7% 59.7% 16.3% 83.9% 14.2% 9.2% 62.6% 23.6% 9.2% 42.6% 43.5% 46.5% 26.8% 22.3% 48.0% 25.2% 19.9% 6.9% 34.5% 25.3% 35.4% 45.6% 25.2% 24.7% 57.1% 18.0% 17.7% 7.3% 53.9% 35.0% 6.1% 63.2% 26.9% 54.7% 26.3% 11.3% 7.7% 44.5% 23.9% 29.4% 31.8% 26.4% 36.8% 60.3% 21.9% 16.4% 42.4% 31.6% 22.6% 36.4% 35.5% 23.5% 59.5% 9.5% 23.5% 7.5% 67.7% 17.1% 13.5% 24.8% 33.0% 24.7% 17.5% Robert Abela Bernard Grech None Don't know ... but more people now trust none of the two major leaders. With 21.1% saying they trust neither Abela nor Grech, this is the highest it has been since September 2020