Support for AD and other political parties stood at 4.4 per cent and 0.9 per cent respectively. A considerable percentage (20.2 per cent) said they were undecided, while 15.8 per cent said they would not vote.
If one were to eliminate those who said they would not vote and those who are undecided, the results show the majority of those who participated in the survey (51.2 per cent) would vote for MLP and 40.4 per cent for PN. A total of 6.8 per cent of the sample said they would vote for AD, while 1.6 per cent said they would go for other political parties.
41.7 per cent said that in the 2003 general election they voted PN, while 28.5 per cent said they voted MLP. Those who said they had voted AD were 2.4 per cent, while 13.5 per cent said they did not cast their vote.
12.4 per cent of those who voted PN in 2003 would now vote MLP. In the case of 2003 Labour supporters who would now vote PN, is only at 2.2 per cent. 4.1 per cent of 2003 PN voters said they would now vote AD, 13.5 per cent said they would not cast their vote and 14.7 per cent said they were undecided.
Asked if following the last general election, they felt their situation improved or deteriorated, 50.5 per cent said their situation deteriorated. Only 11.6 per cent felt they fared better, while 37.9 per cent said their situation had not altered.
41.4 per cent stated that they believed the MLP would win the 2008 general election. 40 per cent said they did not know who would win, and 18.7 per cent said the PN would emerge victorious.
70.9 per cent of those who voted MLP in 2003 think their party will win in 2008. In the case of those who voted PN in 2003, only 36.5 per cent believe their party will emerge victorious in four years time. 30.5 per cent of 2003 PN voters said the MLP will win the next general election, while 33.1 per cent said they were undecided.
37.5 per cent of the those who answered the survey said they trusted Lawrence Gonzi as a political leader. Alfred Sant followed with 29.8 per cent, and Harry Vassallo garnering 3.4 per cent of the support. 27.9 per cent said they did not trust any of the leaders.
43.3 per cent said that since Lawrence Gonzi took over as Finance Minister, the country’s finances did not improve. Those who said they remained at the same level amounted to 39 per cent, and 15 per cent said the financial situation improved. 25.6 per cent of PN supporters feel the country’s financial situation deteriorated since Gonzi took over as Finance Minister. 27.1 per cent of PN supporters said it improved and 45.9 per cent said it remained the same.
The topmost problem of the country seems to be the government’s finances, with 29.8 per cent claiming so. This is followed by unemployment (20.3 per cent), the economy (10.4 per cent), the environment (6.4 per cent), and illegal immigration (4.7 per cent).
Asked how they voted in the 2003 EU referendum, 51.6 per cent said they voted in favour, 30.6 per cent against and 14.3 per cent said they did not vote. If a referendum on Malta’s accession to the EU was held today, 45.8 per cent said they would vote ‘yes’, 32.4 per cent said ‘no’ and 19.4 per cent said they would not cast their vote. 2.4 per cent were undecided.
Although support for EU membership is still high, 10.3 per cent of those who voted ‘yes’ in 2003 said they would now change their vote into a ‘no’, and another 10.3 per cent said they would not vote. In the case of those who said ‘no’ in the 2003 referendum, only 3.6 per cent would now vote in favour of accession.
Survey methodology
This survey was carried out by Malta Polls on behalf of TV programme Xarabank. The Survey on “The Maltese and Politics” was carried out between 9am and 8pm in the period between 19 and 22 October. The survey questionnaires were administered by phone interviews and the fieldwork was carried out by the call-centre ‘Dial-It’.
Random sampling was used in this survey, whereby a representative sample of 804 of those who would participate in the survey was earmarked as the sample size, and was selected from Maltacom’s telephone directory. In total, 1619 people were contacted for this survey, out of which 815 (or 50.3 per cent) refused to participate.
The estimated margin of error based on a sample size of 804 was around +/- 3 per cent.
Standard age cohorts were also included in the survey. The results for age groups and gender were weighed with the relevant clustering resulting from the latest Demographic Review.