Paulwell: PNP survey has us winning next general election

DESPITE THE damning results of an RJRGLEANER-commissioned Don Anderson poll, which found that the majority of Jamaicans viewed the People’s National Party (PNP) unfavourably, VicePresident Phillip Paulwell has contended that the party’s own surveys tell a different story.

“We are not in any way trying to discredit Don Anderson … but we do our own polling, and we are seeing in relation to what we expect, how we expect to perform if elections are held, that the People’s National Party will win and will win with our leader Dr Peter Phillips, and that is as far as I am prepared to speak until I get the other results later this week,” Paulwell said yesterday in an interview with The Gleaner.

The poll found that 57 per cent of respondents felt that the Opposition was doing a poor or very poor job while 29 per cent believe that the party’s performance was neither poor nor good. Only 14 per cent rated the Opposition’s performance as good or very good.

Opposition Leader Dr Peter Phillips, however, is viewed as an even worse performer than his party, with 62 per cent of the 1,038 respondents rating him as doing a poor or very poor job. Only six per cent rank him as very good and eight per cent as good.

PNP General Secretary Julian Robinson was more introspective, saying yesterday that the poll would guide the strategies of the party going forward.

“The party is reviewing the poll results and will assess the overall party standings, which will come out soon. The poll says that we have work to do and that the electorate expects more.

“We are listening and will make the changes in how we communicate and engage with the people of the country,” Robinson told The Gleaner.

“We continue to be focused on articulating solutions to the problems of violent crime and murder, widening inequality, and runaway corruption, which have characterised this JLP administration,” he said in a typed response.

The poll conducted between February 8 and 18 has a margin of error of plus or minus three per cent.