PNCR Leader Robert Corbin has described the recently released findings of a poll conducted by the Caribbean Development Research Services Inc (CADRES) as “instructive” especially as it relates to findings about the public perception of his party and what can be achieved if opposition parties work together.
Asked his opinion on the poll at a media briefing on Friday, Corbin said he read the poll for what it was and it was a reflection of the feelings of society at a particular time. He noted that these samples would be influenced by a number of factors including the sample that was selected by the persons conducting the poll.
However, Corbin said he considered the poll to be credible since the company doing the poll is reputable. “I happen to know that the company that did the poll is a reputable one. So I would not challenge the work that they have done,” the PNCR Leader said. He disclosed too that his party had hired the same company to conduct a poll for its own purposes before the 2006 elections.
The PNCR leader said there were several instructive aspects of the poll which he described as being positive.
“One important part of the poll that I found instructive, [was] that despite all the alleged collapsing of the PNC… because of the squabbles in the party… it didn’t seem to have lost very much points in terms of the public image of it and things like that… and it is an indication that had we put our act together in a much more efficient way we could have done a lot better,” Corbin said.
Further, Corbin said the poll is very instructive as to what could be achieved if the political opposition parties were to work together. Concerning this, he noted that someone did not have to be an expert to read the message in what the poll had stated.
The poll showed that the governing PPP/Civic continued to command the single largest bloc of voters but had lost significant support since 2006, and that an alliance of opposition parties could produce an outcome in their favour.
The poll projected the PPP/Civic’s overall support at 38%, the PNCR at 31% and the AFC at 26%, representing a drop of 16%, 3% and a gain of 18%, respectively.
The People’s Progressive Party (PPP) had criticised this newspaper for publishing the results of the poll and had described it as “bogus”. The PPP said it was an attempt to “confuse and mislead” the people of this country”. The party also made calls for the individual or entity that commissioned the poll to be named.
This newspaper subsequently learnt that the poll was commissioned by Floyd Haynes, of the Washington-based Newton Group. Haynes is married to former AFC MP Chantelle Smith.
