Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1529458
JAMES DEBONO jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt mt SURVEY maltatoday | SUNDAY • 17 NOVEMBER 2024 By age By gender PL more trusted than PN with country's finances Relative majority trust none of the political parties and less than half of PN voters trust their own party with administrating public coffers ONLY 15.5% trust the Na- tionalist Party with running the country's finances while 28.2% trust the Labour Party, MaltaToday's budget survey shows. But while the PL is more trusted with administrating the public coffers, a relative majority of 34.6% trust nei- ther party with the task. In a post-budget survey last year, the PN was trusted by 24% of people with run- ning the country's finances and economy, while 35.1% trusted the PL. This year's results suggest a growing disillusionment with both parties that is more pro- nounced for the Opposition. Significantly, only 47.5% of current PN voters trust their own party with this crucial task while 24.2% trust nei- ther the PN nor the PL. Just over a quarter (26.6%) were not sure who to trust. Crucially none (0%) of cur- rent non-voters trust the PN with running the country's finances, while 9.7% trust Labour. Among this cate- gory of voters, 68.7% trust nobody to run the country's finances and 20.7% are un- sure. While distrust in both ma- jor parties is high, only 0.6% of people trust a small party with running the country's finances. This is an indica- tion that despite the strong showing of third parties – they attract the support of 8% of voters – very few be- lieve they are up to the task when it comes to adminis- trating the country's coffers. A breakdown by level of education shows that trust in Labour's financial acu- men was lowest among the tertiary educated (16.5%) but even in this category trust in the PN's ability to handle Malta's finances was even lower (15.7%). The survey also shows that males are substantially more likely to trust Labour with the country's finances. While 33.4% of men trust Labour in this crucial aspect of governance, only 23.2% of females express the same judgement. The PN is only trusted with Malta's financ- es by 17% of women and 14% of men. A breakdown by age, shows that among under 50 year olds less than 11% trust the PN with the country's finances. Geographically, trust in the PN's financial acumen is highest in the Northern region (21.3%) and lowest in the South-eastern region (7.8%), which coincide with the level of support the PN enjoys in these regions. Significantly, in Gozo a relative majority (34.3%) trust the PL with running the country's finances com- pared to 27.2% who trust no one and just 14% who trust the PN. The results suggest that the PN still cannot project confidence in its abilities to run the country's finances and economy, which could prove crucial in tipping the balance either way in an election where the parties are running neck and neck. In this aspect, the PL also rides on the back of its own finance minister's very posi- tive rating.