Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller. - Norman Grindley /Deputy Chief Photographer

Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller's popularity has waned yet again, according to the latest Gleaner-commissoned Bill Johnson opinion poll.

The poll, conducted between January 5 and 6, shows that Mrs. Simpson Miller fell a further two percentage points down from a favourable 54 per cent in October to 52 per cent this month. This is down from 78 per cent in March 2006 when she became Prime Minister.

The approval of the Prime Minister's leadership style has also dropped slightly as did the perception of the Government's management of the economy, moving down one per cent and four per cent respectively.

Research findings

But Mrs. Simpson Miller and her Cabinet still enjoy most of the support of Jamaicans. The findings of the research team show only 30 per cent of people do not approve of Mrs. Simpson Miller and the same percentage disapprove of her leadership. This is in contrast to more Jamaicans having an unfavourable opinion of Opposition Leader Bruce Golding. Forty per cent of Jamaicans do not approve of him as opposed to 34 per cent who approve of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) leader. Meanwhile, only 42 per cent of Jamaicans do not approve of the job the Government has been doing as opposed to 48 per cent who do.

The poll, conducted in 84 communities across Jamaica's 14 parishes, involved interviews with 1,008 persons. It has a margin of error of plus or minus three per cent.

... Gov't needs to highlight achievements

Political analyst Lambert Brown surmises that favourable opinion of the Government could have been more if it did a better job of communicating to the people its achievements since March. He notes that since Mrs. Simpson Miller's ascension to leadership, inflation has been kept below six per cent while interest rates have remained low.

He notes for example that in rural Jamaica a great deal of development has been taking place with the boom in hotel growth and the North Coast Highway. These investments have created hundreds of jobs for people in those areas. But people elsewhere do not feel there are enough jobs simply because they do not not know what is happening in the country.

"I don't get a job, then job become an issue for me," he noted.

Problem is communication

"And the PNP hasn't shown them that we have done so much jobs in construction here, so much in permanency in the hotels and we plan to do more. So the PNP problem is communication," Mr. Brown argued.

He added that while Mrs. Simpson Miller's popularity might be weakening it is still sufficient to lead the PNP to another possible victory.

"I think Golding faces a credibility problem and if you look at the issue of trust in the poll, it would show Portia is way ahead again. [So] which leader the Jamaican people are more comfortable with, which one they think is going to better run the country. It is going to be Portia," said the political analyst.