Poll: PNM losing support
Sunday, November 16th 2008
The People's National Movement is losing popular support. This is the findings of the latest NACTA poll, done in the first week of November, a year since the re-election of the PNM.
NACTA says, however, that though there is widespread disaffection for the PNM among voters, including traditional supporters, the party's hold on power is not threatened because disenchanted voters do not want either the UNC-A or COP as replacements.
Opposition supporters are extremely dissatisfied with the ongoing fighting between the two major opposition parties, says NACTA, and a large majority of voters want UNC leader Basdeo Panday and COP leader Winston Dookeran to ride off into the sunset so that the opposition can come together to pose a serious challenge to the PNM.
NACTA says its latest survey was done to find out the approval rating of the ruling PNM administration in the year since re-election.
The findings are based on interviews systematically conducted with 392 respondents reflecting the demographic composition of the population and the survey was conducted by Vishnu Bisram.
Asked if they approve of the way Government was running the country, only 21 per cent of respondents said yes. People feel Government was not efficiently managing the resources of the country.
Asked what they thought about Prime Minister Patrick Manning's controversial visit to the radio station which resulted in two reporters being disciplined, respondents felt some news reporters were unprofessional and irresponsible in their reporting and need to be upbraided, but they also felt it was inappropriate for the Prime Minister to visit the station to lodge a complaint.
Only 18 per cent approve of the PM's action to visit the radio station.
The Prime Minister could have found other ways to complain about media bias and irresponsible journalism, they said.
Respondents were also asked how they felt about the election of Barack Obama as President of the USA; there was positive response and only praises for Obama. Asked if they thought that an Obama win could help in having voting transcend race in T&T, 42 per cent felt this could happen.
Generally, respondents said they were fed up with politics as usual, and despaired over the country's rising crime rate and cost of living and they expressed a feeling of hopelessness about their future.
