Deputy Prime Minister Chris Fearne enjoys an approval rating nearly three times higher than Robert Abela’s, a poll commissioned by Times of Malta has found.
The survey also found that Nationalist Party leadership contender Bernard Grech has twice the public support of his rival, incumbent Adrian Delia, who only fares better among those who last voted for the Labour Party.
The survey was conducted by EMCS, an advisory and market research firm, between September 14 and 18. It had 402 respondents, a statistically representative sample of the population, with a margin of error of five per cent at a 95 per cent confidence interval.
Asked who was performing better as a leader, 55% said it was Fearne while just 19% backed Abela.
About 18% said they did not know who to choose while seven per cent either refused to answer the question, did not care, or felt neither of them was doing a particularly good job.
The answers were part of a wider survey which also explored attitudes towards COVID-19.
Abela beat Fearne to the top post in the Labour Party’s leadership race last January. Since then, the two have worked side by side as Malta grappled with the pandemic but senior government sources have told Times of Malta of tension between the two and instances when they failed to see eye-to-eye on policy decisions.
The poll found that Fearne attained a higher score than Abela among both PL and PN voters.
At 45%, Fearne enjoys an 11 percentage point lead over Abela’s 34% approval rating from Labour supporters.
The difference was even wider among PN voters, with just 5% choosing Abela while Fearne was backed by 89%.
And among those who said they did not vote in the last general election, 51% backed Fearne compared to only 14% who thought Abela was doing a better job.
PN: Bernard Grech leads Adrian Delia
Meanwhile, political newcomer Grech enjoys twice the support of his rival, incumbent PN leader Delia.
Only 13% of respondents saw Delia as the best leader of the opposition, compared to 26% who chose Grech.
A lot of respondents did not make a selection, with 37% saying they did not know who to choose and 24% refusing to answer, expressing lack of interest or supporting neither candidate.
Grech’s support is highest among those who say they voted for the Nationalist Party in 2017 – among this cohort, 67% say they prefer him over Delia.
It was those who voted Labour who tended to prefer Delia, with 24% backing him against 14% supporting Grech.
Among those who refused to say who they voted for in the 2017 election, 8% favour Delia while 15% back Grech. Another 42% did not know.
The majority of those who did not vote back Grech (33%) while 7% support Delia. Another 47% did not know.
Election prospects
If an election were to be held tomorrow, 31% would vote Labour and 12%for PN, but a relatively high 26% refused to answer, 13% said they did not know and 16% would not vote.
Compared with a similar poll conducted last month, Labour’s support has grown by three per cent and the PN’s has dipped by 1%, but both these changes are within the margin of error.
Of the 402 respondents to the survey, 52% were employed and 27% retired, while 10% took care of the household, 4% were unemployed, 4% were students and 2% self-employed.