Labour will beat the Nationalist Party by eight percentage points if an election were held today, according to a Xarabank survey announced last night.
Of the respondents, 37.9 per cent said they would vote Labour, 29.9 per cent for the PN, and 1.7 per cent for Alternattiva Demokratika. No fewer than 30.5 per cent claimed they would not vote or were undecided.
The survey, carried out between February 19 and 22 was conducted by Malta Polls on behalf of Xarabank.
In all, 496 people were contacted for this survey, of whom 176 declined participation. The estimated margin of error based on a sample size of 600 is about 4.5 per cent.
Asked how they cast their vote in the last general election, 33.9 per cent said they had voted PN, 39.5 per cent for the MLP and 1.1 per cent for AD. Over a quarter said they did not vote or did not answer.
If one were to eliminate those who were undecided or said they would not vote, the results show the majority (54.5 per cent) would vote for the MLP, 43.1 per cent would vote PN. AD's vote would stand at 2.4 per cent.
If one were to cross-tabulate 2003 voting patterns with prevailing voting intentions, 3.3 per cent of Nationalists would today vote for Labour, and 2.9 per cent of Labourites would vote PN.
Of the Nationalist respondents, 13.3 per cent said they would not vote, and 10 per cent of Labourites expressed similar views.
Among those who in 2003 said they did not vote or were undecided, 11.1 per cent said they would now vote Labour and 2.2 per cent PN.
Asked whom they would trust as the country's leader, 37.9 per cent went for Labour leader Alfred Sant, 30.5 per cent preferred Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi and 1.7 per cent opted for AD chairman Harry Vassallo.
The issue bothering people most was the cost of living (17.5 per cent) and 7.9 per cent said nothing was bothering them.
Just over five per cent cited lack of employment opportunities and 4.5 per cent mentioned the environment. Rather surprisingly, only 2.3 per cent mentioned the water and electricity bills as the issue bothering them most.
Turning to two contentious issues - 64.4 per cent said they disagreed with the introduction of divorce and 33.3 per cent agreed.
Sixty-one per cent said they agreed that the government should safeguard hunting and trapping, while 36.7 per cent disagreed.
Two-thirds of respondents believe prices will increase on the introduction of the euro, the rest saying they will remain unchanged.