Ryan poll gives PM Manning failing grade

A survey conducted by respected pollster and political scientist Prof. Selwyn Ryan suggests that close to two-thirds of the population of Trinidad and Tobago are not happy with the management of the country by Prime Minister Patrick Manning and that the government is squandering public funds.

The poll, which is published in the Sunday Express, was conducted for the Joint Consultative Council (JCC) and titled Public Attitudes towards Good Governance in Trinidad and Tobago.

For the the majority of the population in Trinidad and Tobago, life has worsened over the last five years. The poll suggested that a majority of people now have an unfavourable opinion of Manning than a year ago when he was re-elected to lead the country. And it found that crime remains the number one problem facing Trinidad and Tobago.

The survey of one thousand persons was carried out between October 24 and November 3. The sample covered people from La Brea, Point Fortin, San Fernando, Diego Martin, St Augustine, Barataria, San Juan, Pointe-a-Pierre, Princes Town and Tunapuna and included a mixed ethnic group to reflect the national racial profile.

Ryan included 39 per cent Africans, 38 per cent Indians, 22 per cent Mixed and two per cent Others. The margin of error is plus or minus three per cent.

The covered several areas including quality of life including the quality of life, crime, excessive government spending, and quality of and confidence in Manning's leadership. In every area Manning got a failing grade by a wide margin.

The poll appears to be an indictment against the manning administration not from opposition politicians but the general population.

Under the heading of QUALITY OF LIFE the poll suggested that life in the country has become much worse in the past five years. Only nine per cent of respondents believed it had got better and 10 per cent said it has not changed.

But 70 per cent felt things had got worse - 48 per cent said it was much worse while 22 per cent felt it was somewhat worse than it was five years ago.

When asked what is the worst problem facing the nation, 60 per cent of those surveyed said crime, 20 per cent felt it was high prices while eight per cent cited inflation.

A similar picture emerged on government spending with 74 per cent of the people surveyed agreeing that the government was squandering public funds. Nine per cent did not offer an opinion and 22 per cent disagreed.

Ryan also put Manning's leadership to the test and found that 64 per cent of the respondents were unhappy with Manning's leadership - 30 per cent were dissatisfied and 34 per cent dissatisfied.

The poll found that 17 per cent were very satisfied and six per cent were satisfied, And only 32 per cent had a favourable view of the prime minister's attitude - seven per cent of respondents said they have a very favourable view and 25 per cent had a favourable view.

Ryan also asked people what they would have done if they had an opportunity to vote on a motion of no confidence in the prime minister. Such a motion was presented to the House of Representatives and failed because of the PNM majority in the House.

The poll suggested that 28 per cent would have rejected the motion, while 33 per cent refused to give an opinion.

One week ago another poll unveiled a similar picture of discontent. The NACTA survey suggested that on 21 per cent of respondents approved of the way the Manning government was running the country. And it said the PNM was losing support among voters, including its traditional supporters. However the poll concluded that the party's hold on power was not threatened.

It cited a fragmented opposition as the reason, suggesting that voters are not keen on supporting any of the two opposition parties as alternatives to the PNM. It said that respondents were extremely dissatisfied with what it called "ongoing fighting" between the UNC-Alliance and the Congress of the People (COP).

One shortcoming in the NACTA poll was its small sample size of just 392 respondents.