Only 36% of Maltese tend to trust their national government - Eurobarometer

Results from a Eurobarometer survey held in November show that only 36% of Maltese tend to trust their national government.

The figure represents a significant decline from 63% in January and 43% in June.

On the other hand, the percentage of those who tend not to trust the government has increased from just 32% in January to 51% in June and 57% in November.

Moreover, in an indication of wider disenchantment with the entire political class, only 35% of Maltese tend to trust the national parliament which also includes the Nationalist opposition, down from 58% in January and 40% in June.

The survey shows higher levels of trust in the European Union which is trusted by 61% of Maltese, down from 64% in January but up three points from June.

While trust in the EU is 14 points higher than in the EU as a whole, trust in the national government is the same as that in the EU as a whole, while that in the national parliament is four points lower.

The drop in trust in the Maltese government registered in the November Eurobarometer survey mirrors the drop in support for the ruling Labour Party in opinion polls carried out by MaltaToday in the past months. The surveys showed that the Labour Party experienced its first significant drop of support in March.

The latest MaltaToday survey shows Robert Abela trusted by 38% of respondents, a figure which is very close to the percentage expressing trust in the Maltese government in the Eurobarometer survey.

But despite this drop in trust in the government, the latest MaltaToday survey still shows Labour leading the PN by four points and Robert Abela leading Bernard Grech by a staggering 16 points in the trust baromter.

The government also gets a rating of 2.6 out of a maximum of 5 points in the MaltaToday survey.

The Eurobarometer survey which had a sample of 471 interviews was conducted between 23 October and 11 November.