Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1491702
9 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 5 FEBRUARY 2023 NEWS KURT SANSONE BERNARD Grech has slumped to his second worst trust rating at 19.9% even as Robert Abela reverses gains made in December, MaltaToday's trust barometer shows. Abela's trust rating now stands at 45%, a decline of 2.8 points since the last survey in December. But the Prime Minister's misstep provides no reprieve for Grech, who sheds 2.1 points and trails his rival by 25.1 points. Since becoming leader of the Na- tionalist Party, Grech has suffered his two worst results in the past four months alone. In October 2022, Grech hit his lowest ebb at 18.1%, recovering some of the lost ground in December when he scored 22%, only to lose traction by February. Those who trust none of the lead- ers now account for 27.6% of the electorate, an increase of 1.2 points. Abela leads Grech among men and women, across all age groups and in five of the six regions. The Prime Minister retains the trust of 88.2% of those who voted for the Labour Party in the last gen- eral election. He also earns the trust of 3.1% of Nationalist Party voters. On the flipside, the Opposition leader secures the trust of 57.3% of PN voters and only manages to win over 0.9% of PL voters. The survey shows that 31.2% of PN and 8.1% of PL voters respec- tively trust none of the leaders. Abela has edge among non-voters Abela enjoys the edge over Grech among those who did not vote in the last election, earning the trust of 10.3% as opposed to the PN lead- er's 1.7%. Even so, the vast majority (71.2%) of those who did not vote in the last election trust none of the two leaders. Among young voters (16-35), Ab- ela enjoys the trust of 32.7% as op- posed to Grech's 15.5%. The trust barometer shows grow- ing scepticism among those aged between 36 and 50. This cohort has the largest proportion of vot- ers who trust none of the leaders (45.9%) but it also represents the cohort with the least trust in Grech (8.3%). The leaders' best performances are among pensioners (65+) where Abela registers 56.5% and Grech 29.9%. On a geographical basis, Grech's only reprieve is Gozo, where he scores 36.4% against the Prime Minister's 33.8%. In all other regions Abela enjoys comfortable leads over his rival with the most notable being the Southern harbour region where the Labour leader scores 55.7% against Grech's 12.7%. Just like the election polling re- sults, the trust barometer suggests the abortion issue had little if no impact on the overall trust rat- ings of the leaders. Both have lost ground and the difference between them remains substantially high. Methodology The survey was carried out be- tween Tuesday 24 January 2023 and Wednesday 1 February 2023. 646 respondents opted to complete the survey. Stratified random sampling based on region, age and gender was used to replicate the Maltese demographic. The estimated mar- gin of error is 4.2% for a confidence interval of 95% for the overall re- sults. Demographic and sub-group breakdowns have significantly larg- er margins of error. Abela loses trust and Grech slumps to second worst result