Muscat’s approval dips among respondents with higher education

Overall, Labour leader and Prime Minister Joseph Muscat enjoys a 15-point gap over opposition leader Simon Busuttil but the latter enjoys an 11 point lead among respondents with a university level of education.

Busuttil reconfirms a trend with Nationalist voters, and remains more trusted than Muscat among respondents with a university education, but trails Muscat in all other educational groups. He also improves his position among post secondary educated respondents-a category where Labour made strategic inroads before the 2013 election.

Compared to December 2013 – the last political survey by MaltaToday in which respondents were asked to state their level of education, Joseph Muscat has seen his approval rating dip among university and post secondary educated respondents.

Among respondents with a primary level of education Muscat registers a four-point increase in his approval rating.Among the former Muscat’s approval rating (respondents who judge his performance positively) dips by four points while among the latter it dips by five points. But Muscat’s approval rating remains intact among voters with a secondary level of education.

In the trust barometer where respondents are given a choice between the two political leaders, both Muscat and Busuttil have seen their trust-rating decline by four points among university educated voters. But Busuttil’s score has seen a five-point increase in the trust rating among those with a post secondary education (+4.5).

Muscat has seen his lead among this category decrease from 10 points to six.

The gains among respondents with a post secondary level of education (people who continued their education after the secondary level but did not attend university) are particularly significant in view of the fact that these respondents formed one of the strategic categories, which shifted towards the PL before the 2013 general election.

Busuttil’s gains among this sector tally with gains he made among switchers when compared to November. 

The situation remains static among respondents with a secondary education, both as regards the PM’s approval rating and the trust barometer.  

The educational divide may also reflect the social class composition of the two rival political blocks.