2 weeks ago
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If Jamaicans could vote directly for Prime Minister, Dr. Andrew Holness would defeat Mark Golding in a landslide.
That’s according to the latest Nationwide/Bluedot polls, powered by Total Tools.
Notably, Dr. Holness has widened his lead over Golding in the hypothetical match up over the last five months.
George Davis has the details.
Yes, Jamaicans do not currently directly elect the Prime Minister. And yes, there are no plans for that to change anytime soon.
But, it is a settled view that many Jamaicans carefully consider who would be Prime Minister when deciding which party’s candidate they will vote for in a General Election.
So, the Bluedot pollsters put the direct choice of the leader of the Opposition People’s National Party, Mark Golding, and Andrew Holness, the Prime Minister and Leader of the governing Jamaica Labour Party, to 1,500 registered voters.
It wasn’t even close. Holness would trounce Golding.
Fifty seven percent of respondents chose Holness. 43-percent say they would go with Golding.
That’s a 14-percentage point gap.
Perhaps most surprising is the fact that Dr. Holness has been able to improve his standing since the question was last put to the voters.
In September 2024, Golding was in striking distance of Holness, sending off alarm bells in the Labour Party. At that time, 52-percent of voters said they would choose the JLP leader. 48-percent said the comrade leader was their man.
That was only a 4-percentage point gap.
It means in just five months, Holness rebounded, opening up a massive lead over his political rival.
Golding has actually slipped 5-percentage points in the last five months. Falling from 48-percent in September last year to 43-percent in February this year.
The news does not get much better for the comrade leader.
In fact, across all age demographics, Holness would win the hypothetical match up in a convincing manner.
The JLP leader would easily defeat the PNP leader among voters 18-24, where 61-percent would choose him for Prime Minister. 60-percent of voters 25-34 would also put their X beside Holness’ name.
Golding’s best showing would be with voters 45-54 and 65 and older. In both age groups, 47 percent of voters would choose him.
But that’s still 6 percentage points less than the 53 percent of voters in both groups who would choose Dr.
Holness for Prime Minister.
The PNP President and Opposition Leader should also be very concerned that unaffiliated voters would choose Holness for Prime Minister by a 12 percentage point margin, 56 to 44 percent.
The comrades have been telling Jamaicans to go with Golding. The data suggests not nearly enough voters are prepared to take that journey.
The Nationwide/Bluedot poll was conducted between January 21 and February 1.
It has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percent.
Meanwhile, the gender gap in the support for the two political leaders was again pronounced on the hypothetical question.
Andrew Holness holds a significant advantage with women, winning 60 percent of their support when they were asked who they would directly elect as Prime Minister.
Mark Golding would win the direct vote of only 40-percent of women.
Though men were 7 percentage points more likely than women to vote directly for Golding as Prime Minister, the majority of men would still choose Holness to lead the country.
53-percent of men say Holness would get their vote. 47 percent chose Golding.
That’s a blow to Golding who has been performing better among men in these polls.
When the base of the two parties are considered, 94 percent of JLP supporters would vote directly for Holness and 93 percent of PNP supporters would choose Mark Golding.
English (US) ·