Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1470053
9 NEWS maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 8 JUNE 2022 Nationalists facing another hemmorhage? private sphere losing interest in politics in general, especially in a context where disposable foreigners are the ones who are most exposed to risk and pre- carious conditions. This in itself creates a dilem- ma for the opposition: should it raise the temperature again at the risk of alienating people who have had enough of divi- sive politics? Would it risk losing more vot- ers to the 'abstentionist' party if it transforms itself into a La- bour-lite party? Striking the right balance be- tween principled outrage at some of Labour's antics while still sounding constructive and conciliatory may be the greatest challenge for the PN to capital- ise on its renewed and younger front bench. And despite persistent prob- lems related to the rule of law, it is amply clear by now that these problems do not have any impact on polls, except perhaps to increase the number of disil- lusioned voters. Significantly, nearly 4% of PN voters in the last general elec- tion now trust Abela more than Grech, while 26% trust neither of the two leaders. Before the election, only 0.4% of respond- ents who intended voting PN preferred Abela and only 6% had no trust in either leader. The two oppositions The survey suggests that while 51% trust Abela, 'opposition' in the country is now split be- tween PN voters and those who are losing trust in the entire po- litical system. This raises the question on whether the PN can ever build a coalition which can attract not just floaters who over the years have shifted to Labour but a consistent segment of the elec- torate who are disenchanted by both parties. In fact, the survey confirms high levels of distrust in polit- ical leaders among the tertiary educated (32%) and under-50s (28-29%), which predates the general election. This distrust was already re- flected in a higher abstention rate in the general election itself and the latest survey suggests that despite the significant in- crease in Abela's trust rating, respondents who trust nei- ther of the two leaders has actu- ally increased by 2 points mainly thanks to the increase in disen- chantment among PN voters. The survey also suggests that not voting remains the pre- ferred option of those who are disenchanted with the political system. In short, people who lost trust in the political system are far more likely to vote with their feet than experiment with the third parties which are cur- rently on offer. This reflects what happened in the last gen- eral election which saw nearly 60,000 abstaining or invalidat- ing their vote and only 9,308 voting for third parties. The latest survey suggests similar trends with 22% saying that they are either undecided or that they will not vote in a forthcoming election. Still the survey also shows a boost in the third-party vote with AD registering one of their best scores ever at near- ly 3%. AD's vote increases to 5% among the tertiary and post-secondary educated. But whether this result is a fluke or not, depends on whether this is repeated in future surveys. People who lost trust in the political system are far more likely to vote with their feet than experiment with the third parties which are currently on offer