Politicians tend to act coolly when asked about survey results. When surveys are favourable, they play them down, so as not to generate over-confidence, which can have a reverse effect at the actual polls. When surveys, are negative, they are equally down-played, as politicians often crack that tired cliché – “the only surveys worth noting are actual electoral results”.

With the increasing surgical precision of modern survey models, perhaps politicians would be better advised to pay closer attention to survey results, as they have proved to be a great indicator of where the public’s heart is beating.

The latest set of results published last week painted a rather bleak picture for the PN, as the situation now warrants a deep soul-searching process, which really goes to the heart and soul of why the Nationalist Party hasn’t managed to make one single inroad in 10 years.

The results are scathing on a number of levels and provide a glimpse into the pain areas the PN needs to work on seriously if it means to be even considered by large chunks of the electorate. For the purposes of this article however, I shall focus on an area the PN seems to be struggling considerably to attract – the 16-35 age bracket.

What used to be the natural home for all things young and forward-looking, the party behind EU membership, an open University and endless opportunity, the PN is now finding it hard to even entice the attention of the younger voters. PN in fact only managed to attract 17.6% of voters in this cohort, trailing painfully behind the Labour Party’s 25.6% lead.

It is also fair to say that this bracket is notoriously hard to secure, as young people appear to be the most dissatisfied and disillusioned by politics in general. 38.7% in fact say they will not vote if an election were called tomorrow.

This rings an alarm bell for all the political class, as evidently young people are feeling alienated by the political agenda, and this is no surprise as it continues to confirm other trends, and surveys previously published. 

Politicians, but the Nationalist Party in particular, if it wants to stand a fighting chance come next election, need to ask what subjects are closest to heart to these voters. What topics are they really passionate about? What is making them want to leave the country in droves, never wanting to return?

I believe it is time to rock the boat. Tiptoeing around certain topics hasn’t worked and it is time to start addressing the real issues that make a difference in the people’s quality of life – it’s not like there aren’t any!

Let’s start with one - the environment. There is general consensus that the state of the environment in Malta is pitiful at best. Air quality, our roads, our streets, even our skylines are constantly under attack! Every single element that makes up the environment that surrounds us has seen better days. This is not to say that everything that has taken place in the past ten years has been wrong or negative, but we need to be honest with ourselves.

And we cannot discuss the environment without mentioning the construction industry which rides roughshod over everyone and anyone. Construction in the past ten years has gone completely wild exerting serious inconvenience on people. While no one expects construction to stop cold turkey, it is evident that the supply of property is now sufficient, in fact in real estate circles, there is talk of a buyers’ market.

So why are we still building like it’s going out of fashion? We cannot presume to have the environment at heart – a subject which is extremely important for the younger generation – if we do not address the elephant in the room. Will there ever be a politician, or political party that will champion the real concerns of people in this topic?

Same for other subjects which are always overlooked in favour of safer ones, and tired uninspiring stands. Sadly, the Nationalist Party is not being politically inspiring, and this needs to change.

Alexander Mangion is the deputy mayor of Attard