CADRES Political Opinion Poll

Broadly speaking, the results from CADRES poll, which were released yesterday, are not too damaging to the government after some 18 months in power. peoples' main concerns are economic; the highest concerns are: Cost of Living--33%, Economy--20%, and Unemployment--20%. The overwhelming priority seen by people is Housing--52%; next highest are Improved Water Resource Management--15% and Road Improvement--10%. The following draws directly from the reports.

On the two Budgets presented so far "a majority of Barbadians had a favourable opinion of both budgets. It is striking that while there was some disagreement regarding the extent to which the budget was “reasonable” or “good”, there was consensus that neither was excellent/outstanding".

On THE hot potato, "70% of Barbadians support the PM’s stance on immigration, while 14% object and the remainder preferred not to offer an opinion".

On utility pricing, "It is interesting that more Barbadians appear opposed to increases in electricity than water rates since 63% think that electricity increases are NOT justified, while 54% think that water rates are not justified. In both instances one quarter of Barbadians believe that the timing of the two increases could have been better."

People thought the DLP performed better than BLP on a range of issues--economy, crime, employment, infrastructure/roads, and integrity. Tp quote, "It is interesting to note that Barbadians do not think that the BLP has distinguished itself from the DLP in the area of economics or the economy which is consistent with the scores identified above."

The vast majority of Barbadians do not desire change at this time (43%) while some 23% do believe that this is a good time for a change of government.

On leadership, the PM is overwhelmingly supported (90%) by his faithful--with barely a smile from his opponents. However, among the opposition, there is an interesting split of opinion within the opposition: right now, 51% of BLP supporters prefer former PM Owen Arthur, while only 38% support current leader, Mia Mottley. However, that difference is widened if asked about leadership for the 2013 elections. The waves of that will no doubt wash hard across the rocks.