A total 54% of respondents in a survey conducted for The Sunday Times of Malta said they have little trust or no trust at all in State institutions to take the necessary steps against corruption. 46% claimed to have a great deal of trust or a fair amount of trust.

The majority of both males and females across nearly all age groups expressed a lack of trust, with one exception: persons aged 25 to 34. An important divergence of opinions emerged when analysing data by socio-economic groupings. A total of 59% of those in the higher groupings – ABC1’s, or those in households where the income earner is in a professional, managerial or clerical job – stated that they had little or no trust at all in State authorities in this area.

On the other hand, the C2 and DE groups – those where the income earner is in a skilled or unskilled manual job – are evenly split between those that have a great or fair amount of trust and those that have little or no trust at all.

The survey was taken from a random sample of 800 respondents. Interviews were conducted on the telephone under the direct supervision of Misco coordinators.

A relative majority of respondents, 17%, see corruption as being the most important issue that will determine how they will vote in the general election of June 3.

Respondents were not prompted with a list of pre-set answers.

18% of respondents said they did not know which issue would determine their vote.

The second most important issue is the economy, mentioned by 11% of respondents. A large number of others were cited, such as truth, the environment, electoral proposals and jobs, however, most received a low number of mentions.

The level of satisfaction in the Prime Minister decreases as the level of education of the respondent increases

Corruption is the main electoral issue across all age groups, as well as both genders, but less so among persons aged 34 and under.

Analysing results by socio-economic grouping, it emerges that among ABC1’s, corruption acquires more importance, but it loses importance among those in the C2 and DE categories.

Respondents were also asked whether they were satisfied with the way the Prime Minister had handled the corruption allegations.

46% claimed they were not so satisfied or not satisfied at all, while 41% claimed that they were either very satisfied or fairly satisfied. 13% did not express an opinion.

Women tend to be less satisfied with the way the Prime Minister has handled the corruption allegations than men.

Similarly, those aged 18 to 24, 35 to 44 and 55 and over tend to be less satisfied with the Prime Minister than other age groups.

However, it bears remembering that the size of such sub-samples is relatively small and as such, the margin of error related to data of them is much higher.

For socio-economic groupings, 55% of persons in the ABC1 category stated they were not so satisfied or not satisfied at all with the way the Prime Minster handled the corruption allegations, while in the C2 and DE categories, 37% expressed such an opinion.

An analysis by respondents’ level of education shows that satisfaction with the Prime Minister decreases as the level of education of the respondent increases.

The survey showed that respondents judge the economic situation of the country and their own personal economic situation very positively. In fact, 79% of respondents claimed to be either very satisfied or fairly satisfied with the economic situation of the country, while 21% claimed to be not so satisfied or not satisfied at all.

Just greater than three out of four respondents (76%) claimed to be very satisfied or fairly satisfied with their own economic situation, while 24% claimed to be not so satisfied or not satisfied at all.

This high level of satisfaction is evident across both genders and across all age groups. However, persons aged 55 or older expressed a lower level of satisfaction than those aged under 55.

All socio-economic groupings showed a very similar level of satisfaction with their situation.

Highlights

▪ Corruption is the most important electoral issue.

▪ The relative majority is not satisfied with the way the Prime Minister handled corruption allegations.

▪ The vast majority is satisfied with the country’s economic situation.

Methodology

Respondents in the Misco survey were selected using the random digit dialling method. A total 1,862 persons were called to achieve a sample of 800 respondents.

The data was weighted according to age, gender and region. Weighting is used to adjust the results of a study to bring them more in line with what is known about a population. The weighting was done according to the Demographic Review of 2013.

A sample of 800 provides a margin of error within plus or minus 3.5%. However, when one applies the weighting efficiency resulting from the weighting of the data by age, gender and region, the margin of error increases to plus or minus 3.7%.

The weighting efficiency is the amount of skewing that has to be done to align the sample to the actual population data.

Age groups
18 – 24
25 – 34
35 – 44
45 – 54
55 – 61
62 and over

Regions
Northern
Northern Harbour
Southern Harbour
South Eastern
Western
Gozo and Comino

Socio-economic groups

AB – Respondents living in households where the chief income earner is or was in a higher and intermediate managerial, administrative, professional occupation.

C1 – Respondents living in households where the chief earner is or was in a supervisory, clerical and junior managerial, administrative, professional occupation.

C2 – Respondents living in households where the chief earner is or was in a skilled manual occupation.

DE – Respondents living in households where the chief earner is or was in a semi-skilled and unskilled manual occupation or unemployed.

Levels of education
Primary Level
Secondary Level
Post-Secondary Level
University Level

Next week, The Sunday Times of Malta will publish a survey on respondents’ voting intentions ahead of the general election the following Saturday.