MaltaToday Survey | How Egrant turned into the mother of all miscalculations

Nationalist Party exponents clearly overestimated the importance the Egrant story had for voters despite billing it the “mother of all scandals”, a MaltaToday survey published today shows.

Almost three quarters of those surveyed said Egrant had no bearing on how they voted in the election and only 17% believed Joseph Muscat and his wife owned the company.

The repercussions of the Egrant saga appear to have been greater for the PN, especially in the wake of the inquiry findings that were released a fortnight ago.

The survey recorded the highest-ever trust rating for the Prime Minister, who now stands 39 points clear of his political rival, Adrian Delia. Muscat is now trusted by 16% of those who voted PN last year, 10 points higher than the June survey.

And if an election is held tomorrow, the Labour Party could be looking at a victory that gives it a margin of around 94,000 votes over the PN.

The survey found Nationalist supporters deeply divided on Adrian Delia’s decision to ask his predecessor Simon Busuttil to suspend himself from the parliamentary group.

But when given a stark choice between Delia and Busuttil on who they felt was right on the Egrant affair, the current leader came out on top with 34.2% as opposed to 14.9% who indicated the former leader.

The survey also highlighted the divide Delia has to bridge between the belief of 45% of PN supporters that corruption should remain a central plank for their party and the rest of the population that believes otherwise.

The survey was held between 27 July and 2 August, after the Egrant inquiry results were released. It was also a period during which Delia retracted his request for Busuttil’s auto-suspension.

See the full survey results and analysis on the MaltaToday Digital Edition