55.8% of Malta’s population would not consider voting for a different political party in the future, a survey as part of the State of the Nation conference held on Friday showed.

The results showed that only 27.3% of those sampled said that they would consider voting for a different political party in the future, with the remaining 16.9% responding that they did not know.

The survey also found that 82.7% of the people sampled have always voted for the same political party.  Only 17.3% have not.

The most diverse age demographic in this regard was of those between 26 and 35 years old: 34.9% said that they had voted for a different party at least once.  25.3% of those between 46 and 55 years of age said that they had not always voted for the same party.  Other age groups were on or below the 15% mark.

Notably, 100% of those within the 16 to 25 year old mark said that they had always voted for the same party – although one must factor in that there may be a number of this group who only had the opportunity to vote in one election.

The survey in fact found that 50.3% of this age demographic said that they would consider voting for another political party in the future.

The survey found that the higher one’s education level is, and the higher one’s income is, the more chance there is of them voting for another party in the future.

On a regional basis, the Northern district was found to have the highest share of people most likely to vote for a different party – 45.2%.  The northern harbour and southern harbour districts were at the other end of the spectrum, with 16.3% and 16.7% of people saying that they would consider voting for another party.

The conclusions are a worrying element in a country where both political parties have spoken of how they want to eliminate political tribalism.

The statistic that only 17.3% of people have voted for a different party also identified that famous “switcher” demographic, which could make or break a political party’s chances.