Voters lukewarm on party leaders, poll suggests

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 14: More than four out of ten voters disapprove of how Premier Paula Cox is handling the job, according to a newly-released poll.

But voters said that Opposition leader Craig Cannonier needed to do more to convince them he was the man to take over the top job.

A total of 44.9 per cent surveyed reckoned Ms Cox was not doing a good job, compared to 37.6 per cent who thought she was.

Close to a fifth of those polled (17.5 per cent) remained unsure about her performance as Premier.

But Ms Cox’s personal favourability rating still has a majority in favour (51.8 per cent) compared to the just over one-third (35 per cent) who do not like her style.

The remainder – 13.2 per cent – were unsure how to rate her favourability.

For Mr Cannonier, nearly 35 per cent of voters had a favourable opinion of him, while 12 per cent did not – but more than half (53.1 per cent) remained unsure of him.

When asked if Mr Cannonier was the best person to lead the OBA, more than one-third (35.3 per cent) said he was, but nearly a quarter (24.6 per cent) said he was not.

Again, a sizeable number of those polled were unsure (40.1 per cent) were unsure if he was the right man to lead his party.

Cordell Riley, whose Profiles of Bermuda carried out the poll, said: “I don’t think anybody would be surprised by Ms Cox’s job rating.

“But the poll demonstrates that her likeability could be a factor in the next election. That gives her some leverage going into the next election.”

He added: “With regards to the Opposition leader, the challenge for him is that he’s not well known, both inside and outside his party. He has to get out and demonstrate who he is.

“And that would have to be done quickly, because there is 12 months before the next election, at the latest.”

By sex, men and women are almost equal in terms of disapproval for Ms Cox’s performance – 47.6 per cent were men and 42.3 per cent were women.

Voters were more divided racially, with more than five out of ten black people backing her ability to do the job, compared to around six out of ten white people (63.9 per cent) who did not rate her performance.

In terms of favourability, Ms Cox was liked more by women than men (53.5 per cent and 50 per cent respectively).

Of those who liked Mr Cannonier, men (36.8 per cent) outnumbered women (33 per cent).

By race, two thirds of black people (67.6 per cent) rated Ms Cox personally, while just over half (50.5 per cent) of white people and others did not.

Mr Cannonier had a favourability rating of 44.5 among white people and others, while 19 per cent of black people did not rate him personally.

Not sure

But more than half of both black people and white people and others respectively (56.1 per cent and 50.9 per cent) said they remained “not sure” about him as a person.

Just over half of those who said they would vote OBA (53.8 per cent) felt he was the best person to lead the party, while 16.2 per cent would rather see another leader in charge.

But that still left nearly 30 per cent of OBA voters unsure whether he was the right man to lead the new party into a General Election.

The poll was conducted among 301 voters between December last year and February. The margin of error was plus or minus 5.6 per cent.