Disgruntled voters punish big parties and their leaders

Trust in Robert Abela and Bernard Grech continues to decline as disgruntled voters punish the two major political parties and their leaders, a MaltaToday survey shows.

Support for the Labour Party has declined by almost three points to 39.4% since July but the results are more painful for the Nationalist Party and its leader.

The survey released today shows the PN losing six points since July to reach 19.9%, its worst result under Grech’s leadership.

Seven months into his new mandate, the Prime Minister’s trust rating has gone below the 50% mark.

The October survey puts Robert Abela’s trust rating at 46.9%, which is high but still represents a contraction of 3.5 points since July.

Bernard Grech has experienced a similar decline, hitting his lowest ever trust rating at 18.1%.

Trust in the Opposition leader declined by 3.3 points since July.

The results paint a picture of an increasingly disgruntled electorate with 22.6% saying they will note vote – an increase of eight points since July – and 31.1% saying they trust neither Abela nor Grech – an increase of seven points since July.

Support for ADPD increased by more than one point to reach 3.2%.

Even as Abela loses trust, Grech hits new low as voters signal disgruntlement

Robert Abela’s trust rating has declined by 3.5 points to 46.9% since July, MaltaToday’s October survey shows as the Prime Minister faces growing disgruntlement among Labour voters.

Abela still beats his rival Bernard Grech soundly across all age groups but the Prime Minister has to deal with a growing cohort of distrustful Labour voters, who have doubled since the July survey.

Although Abela retains the trust of 90.1% of those who voted Labour in the March election, 8.3% of PL voters now say they trust no one.

However, Abela’s showing remains miles ahead of Bernard Grech, who has slumped to his worst performance since first becoming Nationalist Party leader in September 2020.

Grech’s latest trust rating stands at 18.1% as he suffers a desertion of PN voters from the March election.

The October findings show that while 52.7% of those who voted for the PN in the last election trust Grech, 39.5% trust no one.

In the July survey, 28.2% of PN voters had said they trust no one. The overall lack of trust in both leaders stands at 31.1%, an increase of seven points since July, suggesting growing disenchantment with the two leaders.

A breakdown of the October findings shows that Abela enjoys the trust of 45.3% of women and 48.2% of men.

The Opposition leader is trusted by 19.3% of women and 17.1% of men.

The young aged between 16 and 35 are the most distrustful with 52.4%, saying they trust none of the two leaders.

But Abela outpaces Grech among the rest – 34.7% of young people trust the Labour leader, while only 6.9% trust the Nationalist leader.

Grech’s best performance is among pensioners with 31.1%. However, he still trails Abela, who scores 51.7% among this group of voters.

The Prime Minister’s best performance is among those aged between 51 and 65 with a rating of 52.8%, against Grech’s 18.1%.

On a geographical basis, Abela beats Grech in all regions with especially large margins in the Southern Harbour and South Eastern regions.

The Prime Minister’s best performance is in the Southern Harbour with 57.1%. This contrasts with Grech’s dismal performance in this region, where he only manages 9%.

Grech’s best showing is in Gozo with 29.3%. He still trails Abela but the gap between the two leaders in Gozo is the shortest across all regions.