The country’s two main political leaders are less popular than other key figures in their parties.
That’s according to the latest Nationwide/Bluedot polls, powered by Total Tools.
The polls found that Health Minster, Dr. Christopher Tufton, leads his boss, Prime Minister Andrew Holness in positive ratings, while Mark Golding’s positive rating is eclipsed by that of his Spokesman on Finance Julian Robinson.
The polls were conducted between February 27 and March 7 and have a margin of error of plus or minus 2.7%.
Ricardo Brooks reports.
Having piloted the country through one of its most difficult health crises in a generation, Dr. Christopher Tufton appears to be enjoying the admiration of Jamaicans.
The Bluedot pollsters asked 1207 Jamaicans to explain whether they had a positive, negative or no opinion of key political figures and organisations.
Dr. Tufton leads the pack, on both sides.
43.4% of respondents had a combined positive or very positive opinion of the administration’s point man on health.
That’s seven percentage points more than his boss, Prime Minister Andrew Holness, who was viewed as positive or very positive by 36.4% of respondents.
18.5 percent of Jamaicans had a negative or very negative view of Dr. Tufton.
That’s considerably less than the 30.4% of respondents who have a negative or very negative view of the Prime Minister.
Almost 33% of respondents expressed no opinion of the Prime Minister, while 37-percent had a similar view of Dr. Tufton.
The Finance Minister, Dr. Nigel Clarke, was third in the positivity ranking among the Labourites, with 31% of respondents seeing him in a positive light.
In the Opposition People’s National Party, Julian Robinson leads his party President, Mark Golding, in positive perception, with 28.4% of respondents viewing him in a favourable light.
Mark Golding manages a 26.4% positive rating in the poll.
Golding is seen in a significantly more negative light than Julian Robinson, leading him by more than 12-percentage points in that regard.
Twenty four points to 12.3 points.
Forty nine percent of respondents had no opinion of Mr. Golding and 59% expressed no opinion of Mr. Robinson.
Of note, all three Labourites, Holness, Tufton and Clarke had a higher positive perception than the comrades, Golding and Robinson.
At the same time, Prime Minister Andrew Holness had the highest combined negative perception rating of all the names put to the respondents at 30.4%.
But what does all this mean if a general election were held today?
Tune in this afternoon at 5, to hear the party standings and the final results.
