Franco Debono more popular among Labourites

Compared to the results of a survey held in November, Nationalist maverick MP Franco Debono has slightly improved his overall trust rating, but this comes in the wake of a decline in his trust rating among Nationalist voters and a rise in his trust rating among Labour voters.

The Nationalist MP is now more trusted by Labour voters than by Nationalist voters.

While only 31% of current PN voters trust the rebel backbencher - down from 42% in November, 44% of Labour voters-up from 31% in November, trust Debono.

Debono had retained the trust of a relative majority of PN voters after his abstention in a vote of no-confidence in Transport Minister Austin Gatt. 

But his abstention in a no-confidence vote in Lawrence Gonzi's government has dented the trust among Nationalist voters. In fact, the number of Nationalist voters who do not trust him has increased by 10 points.

On the other hand despite weakening the government and forcing Gonzi to call for a leadership contest within his party, Debono is still trusted by 31% of PN voters and by 34% of those who had voted PN in 2008.

This could be an indication that by not bringing the government down and by participating in the PN's leadership ballot Debono has not burned his bridges with Nationalist voters.  

Despite disappointing Labourites by not bringing the government down, Debono has seen his trust rating increase by 13% among current Labour voters while the percentage of Labour voters who do not trust Debono has decreased by 17 points.

Debono's trust has also decreased by six points among undecided voters.

Methodology

The survey was held between Monday 5 and Thursday 8 March. A total of 1,117 respondents were randomly chosen from telephone directories.  The survey was stopped when a 500 quota of completed questionnaires was reached. The results of the survey were weighed to reflect the age balance of the population as established in the 2010 demographic review issued by the National Office of Statistics. The survey has a margin of error of /-4.4%.