Two thirds of voters of all parties are satisfied that Grant Gibbons has been selected as the new leader of the United Bermuda Party, according the first opinion poll conducted since he took the top Opposition job.

The Research Innovations poll for The Royal Gazette shows shows 62.7 percent are satisfied, 17.4 percent are dissatisfied and one in five (191.9) are not sure.

The UBP will be happy that Dr. Gibbons' approval rating is high among black voters as well as white. Some 55.6 percent of black voters were satisfied, 23.9 percent dissatisfied and 20.6 percent not sure.

Among white voters, Dr. Gibbons, as expected, received much higher ratings. Some 79.2 percent approved, 5.6 percent were dissatisfied, and 15.2 percent were not sure.

The poll of 403 voters was taken the week after Dr. Gibbons won the selection battle and has a margin of error of 4.9 percent.

Half the Progressive Labour Party voters polled said they approved, while 31.4 percent were dissatisfied, with 19 percent undecided.

There was disagreement last night about how to interpret the poll, with Works and Engineering Minister Alex Scott claiming all PLP supporters should have been happy with the selection of Dr. Gibbons because it gives the ruling party the best chance of defeating the UBP.

UBP voters gave Dr. Gibbons a heavy endorsement with 94.5 percent satisfied, 2.7 percent dissatisfied, and 2.7 percent unsure.

With the UBP traditionally seen as the party of business, it comes as no surprise that the Opposition leader's approval ratings go up up according to income. Those on $50,000 or less approve 57.3 percent, $50-100,000 show 59.9 percent support, and $100,000 approve 83.9 percent.

Political analyst Walton Brown, who conducted the poll, said last night: "It suggests the general public are satisfied with the selection of Grant Gibbons as leader. Those likely to be dissatisfied are PLP , but there's a degree of uncertainty which suggests wait and see.

"An Opposition party leader is not the leader of a Country so many people are generally satisfied, but are adopting a wait and see attitude."

Mr. Brown said Dr. Gibbon's comparatively good approval ratings among black voters should be seen in context.

The majority of those polled who identified themselves with a party showed 121 backed the PLP, while 73 identified themselves as UBP.

The rest were National Liberal Party, other or not sure.

As most PLP backing for Dr. Gibbons can be assumed to come from black voters, this would push his overall rating up among blacks.

Dr. Gibbons refused to be drawn on the findings last night and would only offer general comments.

"Opinion polls are a fact of life in modern politics. I don't want to comment on the actual poll results, but I've got a great team that is very focussed on our mission to make sure Bermudians get the good government they deserve," he said.

But Mr. Scott said: "I would have thought PLP supporters would have been 100 percent satisfied with his selection because I don't think there could be a better person for the party to run against.

"If we had to choose who to run against, Grant Gibbons would be it. I would have thought his numbers among the PLP folk would be higher.

"I don't know what it represents as a poll. He doesn't have a track record as a leader therefore there is no record against which to send the numbers higher or lower.

"Also, I think a lot of it is to do with name recognition. If it was Cole Simons, the numbers would have been lower. Grant Gibbons is wonderful to run against, and I think the numbers are about name recognition."

Maverick UBP MP Trevor Moniz said the worrying thing about the poll was that much more people identified themselves as PLP than UBP voters.

Allan Marshall, the UBP shadow minister for telecommunications, e-commerce, small business development and consumer affairs, said: "I would have thought to conduct a poll so early after his selection is a bit unfair.

"Everyone needs to be judged by their performance, and I hope Bermudians will judge their leaders, of all parties, on performance.

"We need as a community to rise above the partisan and racial aspects and start to judge people who make a commitment to serve the community on their performance."