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Only third of voters back Premier

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OBA leader: Craig Cannonier

The PLP have dismissed a new MindMaps poll that shows Premier Paula Cox with a meagre 34 percent favourability rating just days before the election.Voters placed Ms Cox third behind rival Craig Cannonier, the leader of the OBA, who got 48 percent, and Michael Dunkley, his deputy, who had a 51 percent favourability rating among voters.The Premier did fare better than her deputy, Derrick Burgess, who had a miserable 23 percent rating, and former UBP leader Kim Swan, who scored just 26 percent.However, a PLP statement brushed the results aside last night, deeming them irrelevant to what is likely to happen on Monday when the voters go to the polls.“The only poll that matters is the one on Election Day,” the statement said. “It seems that every election, the pollsters and the pundits are proven wrong by the people.”Ms Cox’s favourability is highest among black voters — 47 percent of whom said they viewed her favourably, compared to nine percent of white voters.Almost three-quarters of white voters said they had an unfavourable impression of the Premier, compared to 26 percent of black voters.The Island’s oldest voters were more likely to have an unfavourable impression of Ms Cox with 46 percent of those 65 and older, and 41 percent of those between 55 and 64. But there were still relatively high proportions of both age groups who viewed her favourably — 33 percent of those older than 65 and 36 percent of those in the 55 to 64 age bracket.The youngest voters were split. Among the 18 to 34 year olds, 36 percent said they had a favourable impression of the Premier, the same proportion who had an unfavourable impression of her, while 29 percent said the impression was neither favourable, nor unfavourable.Meanwhile, Thad Hollis, the OBA chairman, said that his party did not believe in commenting on the favourability or otherwise of candidates. “There are many good candidates putting themselves forward for public service in this election — Bermudians all,” he said.Mr Dunkley’s favourability is highest among white voters, 75 percent of whom have a favourable impression of him, compared to 39 percent of black voters.And 28 percent of black voters had an unfavourable impression of him compared to 11 percent of white voters who felt the same way.The Island’s oldest voters were most likely to have a favourable impression of Mr Dunkley — 67 percent of those aged 65 and older, 53 percent of those between the 55 and 64 — but 55 percent of the youngest voters, 18 to 34 year olds, had the same impression.Yet 24 percent of the respondents aged 18 to 34 said they had an unfavourable impression of the OBA Deputy leader.Voters in the middle aged band (45 to 54 year olds) were evenly split (33 percent) when asked whether they had a favourable impression of Mr Dunkley. And 32 percent of them also scored a three on the five point scale meaning they had neither a favourable nor unfavourable impression of him.Among 35 to 44 year olds, 42 percent scored a three, while 16 percent said they had an unfavourable impression of Mr Dunkley and 38 percent viewed him favourably.Mr Cannonier’s favourability is also highest among white voters, 73 percent of whom have a favourable impression of him, compared to 34 percent of black voters.Among black voters, 34 percent had an unfavourable view of him, compared to seven percent of whites who felt the same way.Broken down by age, a similar pattern is seen as with Mr Dunkley. The Island’s oldest voters were most likely to view Mr Cannonier favourably — 58 percent of those 65 and older had a favourable impression of him, as did 48 percent of those between 55 and 64 and 42 percent of those between the 45 and 54. But 45 percent of the youngest voters, 18 to 34 year olds, viewed him favourably and 14 percent said they had an unfavourable impression of him.* MindMaps spoke to 400 registered voters between December 3 and December 10. The survey’s margin of error was 4.9 percent.

Premier Paula Cox