People are more likely to trust Prime Minister Joseph Muscat than Leader of the Opposition Simon Busuttil, this month’s edition of the ISurvey shows.
Respondents were asked to pick which of the two they trusted the most, but they were also asked to rate each party leader on a 10-point scale, with 10 signifying the greatest level of trust.
While 35.7% put greater trust in Dr Busuttil, 47.4% said that they trusted the Prime Minister more. The remaining 16.9%, however, insisted that they trust neither.
Dr Muscat ended up with an average trust rating of 5.84, while Dr Busuttil’s average trust rating was 5.1.
Inevitably, those who voted for the Labour Party in the 2013 general election gave far higher marks to Dr Muscat, while PN voters overwhelmingly deemed Dr Busuttil to be more trustworthy. However, PN voters were more positive about Dr Muscat than PL voters were about Dr Busuttil.
Among Labour voters, Dr Muscat earned an average rating of 8.26, and 88.8% of them said that they trusted him more than Dr Busuttil. On the other hand, “just” 79.6% of PN voters trust Dr Busuttil more, and his average rating among them was 7.41.
At the other end of the scale, 3.4% of those who voted for Labour in 2013 trust Dr Busuttil more than Dr Muscat, while 7.8% trusted neither leader. The proportion of PN voters who trust Dr Muscat more, however, is twice as high at 6.8%, while a further 13.6% said that they trust neither leader.
Among all those who trust neither political leader, however, Dr Busuttil performs notably better, earning an average score of 4.93 to Dr Muscat’s 4.52.
Older people deem Dr Muscat most trustworthy
When the figures are broken down according to age groups, one finds that the youngest respondents – those aged 18-24 – were the most cynical about the political leaders. Among them, Dr Muscat earned an average score of just 4.9, whereas Dr Busuttil’s score was 4.71.
But while the Prime Minister received a slightly higher average score, this appears to have been prompted by particularly high marks from his supporters, as this was the only age group which was more likely to trust Dr Busuttil. The PN leader was deemed more trustworthy by 38.1% of the under 25s, compared to the 35.7% who chose Dr Muscat.
Despite emphasising his relative young age and despite young people’s prominence in Labour’s campaigns, Dr Muscat is deemed most trustworthy by those aged 45 and up. Those aged 45-59 gave him an average rating of 6.27, while those aged 60 and over gave him an average score of 6.05.
On the other hand, Dr Busuttil received his highest score – 5.3 – from those aged 25 to 34. However, Dr Muscat received a higher rating across all age groups.
While one would expect Dr Muscat to receive the highest score from the areas which include the most Labour-leaning electoral districts in the country – the southern harbour and southeast districts – the Prime Minister received the highest regional ranking – an impressive 7.43 – from Gozo.
His lowest regional ranking, 5.12, was obtained in the western district, whose largest localities are Rabat, Attard and Zebbug.
Dr Busuttil’s score, on the other hand, varies considerably less across the districts. His highest regional score, which comes from the western district, is just 5.31, only slightly above his overall average.
Gozitans appear to be relatively charitable in their rankings, as they also provide Dr Busuttil with his second highest regional score of 5.3. The PN leader’s lowest ranking, 4.85, comes from the southern harbour district, which includes Zabbar and Cottonera.