3 weeks ago
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A plurality of Jamaicans, 42 per cent, believe the country is heading in the wrong direction under the Holness administration.
That’s according to the latest Nationwide/Bluedot polls, powered by Total Tools.
The negative sentiment is reflected right across the country; as in not a single parish do Jamaicans believe the country is heading in the right direction.
Kimone Thompson has the numbers.
With just over eight months to go before Jamaicans deliver their formal verdict on the stewardship of the Holness government, warning signs are emerging that the outlook remains stagnant, if not bleak.
The Bluedot pollsters asked the 1,500 registered voters the same question they’ve asked since 2021, is the country headed in the right or wrong direction.
Forty-two per cent said wrong. Thirty-two per cent said right. Twenty-six per cent were not sure.
That negative 42 per cent is down two percentage points from the 44 per cent recorded in February and September last year.
The Labourites may take some comfort in that marginal drop, as well as the fact that the negative sentiment has not returned to the high of 47 per cent recorded in February 2023. The positive sentiment has also moved by five percentage points since September 2024.
Far less comforting is the fact that in none of the 14 parishes do Jamaicans have a positive outlook on the direction of the country.
In fact, in some parishes nearly a majority of Jamaicans have a negative outlook. In Hanover, 48 per cent say wrong direction. It was the same story in Manchester; while in Trelawny it was 49 per cent who believed Jamaica was on the wrong path.
Westmoreland residents had the most pessimistic outlook with a clear majority, 52 per cent, saying the country was on the wrong track.
That could spell trouble for Daniel Lawrence in Eastern Westmoreland, George Wright in Central Westmoreland and Morland Wilson in Western Westmoreland.
All three swept the parish in the September 2020 general election on Jamaica Labour Party, JLP, tickets, defeating incumbents in what were once safe People’s National Party, PNP, seats. Dr. Dayton Campbell, Dwayne Vaz and Ian Hayles are all challenging to reclaim the seats for the PNP.
The highest level of positive sentiment was found in St. Thomas where 40 per cent of residents believed the country was on the right path. That positive sentiment was 39 per cent in St. Mary and 38 per cent in Clarendon.
Party affiliation appears to be driving at least some of the negative sentiment, with 73 per cent of respondents who identified themselves as PNP supporters believing the country was heading in the wrong direction.
The negative sentiment among comrades has risen by five percentage points since last September. Only nine per cent of the comrades say Jamaica is on the right track. That’s unchanged from the last poll.
Unsurprisingly , the Labourites had a more positive outlook, with 62 per cent of them saying Jamaica is heading in the right direction. Eighteen per cent of self-styled Labourites believe Jamaica is heading in the wrong direction.
The positive sentiment among Labourites has climbed by five percentage points since last September, while the negative has fallen by two percentage points.
Forty-four per cent of unaffiliated respondents believe the country is on the wrong track, while 21 per cent of them indicated Jamaica was on the right track. The positive sentiment among unaffiliated voters has risen by three percentage points since last year.
The last time overall positive sentiment on the direction of the country outweighed negative sentiment in these polls was in 2021, months after the JLP’s landslide victory over the PNP.
At that time, 34 per cent believed Jamaica was on the right path, while 26 per cent said we were on the wrong track.
The Nationwide/Bluedot polls were conducted between January 21 and February 1. It has a margin of error of +/- 2.5 per cent.
Meanwhile, crime and corruption continue to fuel the negative sentiments about the direction of the country. Forty-three per cent of respondents identified crime as their most pressing concern.
It has risen four percentage points from the 39 per cent recorded in September 2024. The negative perception has risen despite a 19 per cent drop in murder last year.
Crime has been identified as the top issue in these polls since 2021.
Corruption follows with 14 per cent of respondents indicating they were concerned about it. There’s been a one percentage point drop in those who see corruption as the most pressing issue. The opposition PNP has been pushing the issue from the political platform, frequently attacking the government with allegations of corruption and a lack of transparency.
Cost of living was identified by 13 per cent of respondents as their top issue.
Unemployment and jobs rounds out the top four concerns, with nine per cent of respondents indicating it remained an issue for them.
Healthcare, governance, education and welfare were all recorded as single digit concerns.
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