Voters favour JLP Majority say party best suited to run Jamaica
Friday, August 31, 2007
More Jamaicans believe that the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) is best suited to run the country and is also the party they would like to see win the next general elections, according to a poll conducted for the Observer by Mark Wignall.
The poll, conducted August 25-27 in 48 communities across the island, sought the views of 1,454 voters on issues relating to the elections scheduled for next Monday. It has a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points.
According to Wignall, who understudied the late master pollster, Professor Carl Stone, when his team of pollsters asked the question: 'Which party do you believe is best suited to run the country right now?' 46 per cent of respondents said the JLP, while 39 per cent said the People's National Party (PNP). A total of 15 per cent said they did not know.
"These answers fall strictly along party lines with the overwhelming majority of party supporters/voters answering in support of their respective parties," said Wignall. "Among the undecided, the majority view favours the JLP."
When the pollsters posed the question, 'Which party would you like to see win the next elections?', 44 per cent of those polled favoured the JLP, 37 per cent said the PNP, while 19 per cent said they did not know.
Said Wignall: "As the election nears, all of the indicators are showing a position in favour of the JLP with its 7 percentage point lead over the PNP in terms of which party respondents would like to see win the next elections."
Question: Which party do you believe is best suited to run the country right now? The JLP 46% The PNP 39% Don't know 15% 100%
Question: Which party would you like to see win the next elections? The JLP 44% The PNP 37% Don't know 19% 100%
Wignall also said that his sample indicated an enumeration rate of 85 per cent, with those saying they intend to vote ranging between 71 per cent and 82 per cent. The breakdown is as follows: Intend to vote: 82% Not voting: 18% 100%
Added Wignall: "In examining other characteristics of those who intend to vote, 71 per cent appear to be more firm on voting intention than the other 11 per cent.
"My experience in polling close to elections tells me that usually the lower end of the range tends to be closer to the actual vote, which is not to rule out the possibility of a 82 per cent turnout. Based on what the numbers are indicating, an 82 per cent turnout is likely only if that additional 11 per cent come on board at the last moment in a snowball effect. This was seen in the last month of 1980 when a last-minute poll indicated a gelling of the JLP position in comparison to its strength as indicated in a Carl Stone Poll done the month before."
. . .none of this polling is anything that should be followed with any seriousness-much of it is propoganda. There was one guy on cvm a few nights ago saying which seat was already wrapped up from which was too close to call, some saying the election is a dead heat, some saying the PNP still 'ahead,' some saying the JLP 'winning' in a landslide.
. . .I would say it would be the JLP TheDread based on the atrocious stewardship of the country of the current government but then again I said that 5 years ago .
Heh heh... I saw that cartoon the other day maisonblue. I was popping up.. I was hoping you saw it.. heh heh... I'm sure the man who makes these cartoons has been reading this forum coz I made the same comment after VC's race..
I am praying for a draw and two independents to win 2 seat..
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They make the world so hard
Polls open as Jamaicans vote in close election By Horace Helps 20 minutes ago
KINGSTON (Reuters) - A handful of voters lined up early when polls opened for Jamaica's national elections on Monday as the Caribbean island heals from one hurricane, warily eyes another and frets over recent political violence.
Dawn brought clear skies to the capital, Kingston, but forecasters warned of a good chance of rain from ferocious Hurricane Felix, passing more than 200 miles to the south. The island was under a tropical storm watch for an election already delayed a week by the passage of Hurricane Dean 15 days ago.
But the attention of Jamaica's 2.8 million people was less on the weather than political violence after seven people were killed by gunmen on Saturday and another three on Sunday, grim reminders of Jamaica's history of election bloodshed.
National television broadcast pleas late on Sunday from Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller and other officials concerned about the spate of killings in a nation with one of the world's highest murder rates.
"Please obey the law to the letter. Do not allow yourself to be provoked into anger," Simpson Miller said. "To anyone who might have violent intentions, I say think again. ... I encourage you to put down your weapons of war."
Simpson Miller's People's National Party sought a record fifth consecutive five-year term but the latest polls showed the opposition Jamaica Labour Party surging.
A poll published in the Jamaica Observer newspaper on Sunday had the JLP ahead by 9 percentage points, while an analysis by the Sunday Gleaner had the JLP winning at least 32 of the 60 parliamentary seats at stake.
We need new blood and new ideas from both Parties...with Bruce and Portia....you people realize they are still around from 1980 and even before that ? The same political style exists now as it did then.
We need new blood and new ideas from both Parties...with Bruce and Portia....you people realize they are still around from 1980 and even before that ? The same political style exists now as it did then.
Both a dem fi gwey!
Ahmeman!
Agree with you, but in the meantime they are the ones that we have to work with today...there is some fresh young blood in a few constituencies...so maybe by the next election we will have new faces going for the top spot. I do agree that some of these old fogies need to retire their seat
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