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maltatoday | SUNDAY • 13 MARCH 2022 10 NEWS ELECTION 2022 Abela's trust lead grows to 14 points Trust Barometer and Political Survey Robert Abela Bernard Grech Neither Don't know 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 43.9% 29.8% 20.4% 5.9% 13 Mar 2022 pp change 6 Mar 2022 Between Robert Abela and Bernard Grech, who do you trust the most? Full demographics comparing trust between Abela and Grech 13-Mar-22 6-Mar-22 27-Feb-22 6-Feb-22 Overall PL Now PN Now Will not vote now Uncertain New Voter 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 43.9% 29.8% 20.4% 97.7% 90.3% 7.1% 11.2% 75.3% 8.6% 25.6% 10.7% 47.3% 16.4% 36.1% 19.7% 24.8% 19.5% 82.3% 11.1% 68.1% 20.5% 6.1% 12.4% 14.4% 60.9% 12.3% 46.7% 28.5% 19.5% 41.3% 31.1% 21.2% 6.4% 38.8% 25.6% 26.6% 9.0% 39.4% 23.7% 30.1% 6.7% 49.9% 30.3% 15.0% 48.5% 39.4% 9.5% 53.4% 34.8% 9.0% 52.4% 25.6% 16.4% 42.9% 28.3% 23.2% 31.1% 33.5% 27.9% 7.5% 44.4% 29.3% 18.6% 7.7% 33.1% 33.4% 23.2% 10.3% 38.9% 37.9% 17.6% 56.3% 16.2% 23.6% 57.7% 23.4% 16.5% 36.1% 35.1% 22.8% Robert Abela Bernard Grech None Do not know Which political party would you vote for if an election were to be held tomorrow? 'New Voter' category introduced in this survey KURT SANSONE ROBERT Abela ends the third week of the electoral campaign with a trust rating of 43.9% in MaltaToday's rolling survey, while Bernard Grech scores 29.8%. The result represents a one-point increase since last Sunday in the gap between the leaders, which now stands at 14 points. The Labour leader is trusted more than the Nationalist leader across all age groups, among men and women, and in all regions bar one. The survey has been building up its sam- ple size on a daily basis, ensuring that daily polling reflects the country's demographics and past voting patterns. By Friday at 8pm, 1,811 people were polled since Monday, 21 February. 36 to 50 most distrustful Abela's strongest performance remains among middle-aged voters, where he is trusted by 49.9%, followed by pensioners at 48.5%. Grech's strongest performance is among pensioners where he scores 39.4%, followed by middle-aged voters at 30.3%. Among young voters aged between 16 and 35, the PL leader has a trust rating of 38.8% as opposed to Grech's 25.6%. However, 26.6% of people in this age cohort trust no one. The most distrustful group remains the 36- 50 age cohort, where 30.1% trust none of the two leaders. Within this group, Abela enjoys a trust rating of 39.4% against Grech's 23.7%. Abela's regional performance better than party's On a geographical basis, Grech continues to beat Abela in the Northern region, albeit with an extremely slim lead. This region is made up of Għargħur, Mellieħa, Mġarr, Mo- sta, Naxxar and St Paul's Bay. Grech scores 33.4%, while Abela registers 33.1%. But elsewhere, the PN leader trails Abela with the most significant margins recorded in the south and east of the country. In the Northern Harbour region, Abela scores 38.9% against Grech's 37.9%, while in the Western region the Prime Minister's trust stands at 36.1% against Grech's 35.1%. In the South-Eastern region, the PL leader scores a trust rating of 56.3%, while Grech continues to register his worst performance at 16.2%. This region is composed of Żejtun, Birżeb- buġa, Gudja, Għaxaq, Kirkop, Marsaskala, Marsaxlokk, Mqabba, Qrendi, Safi and Żur- rieq, which correspond to the 3rd and 5th electoral districts that are Labour strong- holds. In the Southern Harbour region, Abela scores his best performance at 57.7% against Grech's 23.%. This region is made up of Val- letta, Vittoriosa, Isla, Bormla, Żabbar, Fgu- ra, Floriana, Kalkara, Luqa, Marsa, Paola, St Luċija, Tarxien and Xgħajra. This region largely conforms to the 2nd and 4th electoral districts, which are also Labour strongholds. In Gozo, Abela enjoys the trust of 44.4% against Grech's 29.4%. Among those who are saying they will vote PL in the 26 March election, Abela enjoys the trust of 97.7%, while Grech enjoys the trust of 90.3% of those who will vote PN. But 7.1% of prospective PN voters say they trust no one as opposed to 1.1% of prospec- tive Labour voters. Methodology The survey is the cumulative data set car- ried out between Monday 21 February 2022 and Friday 11 March 2022. 1,811 respond- ents opted to complete the survey. Stratified random sampling based on region, age and gender was used to replicate the Maltese de- mographic. The estimated margin of error is 2.3% for a confidence interval of 95% for the overall results. Demographic and sub-group breakdowns have significantly larger mar- gins of error. Abela's strongest performance remains among middle-aged voters, where he is trusted by 49.9%, followed by pensioners at 48.5%