Patrick Manning, the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, has failed miserably in a poll commissioned by himself. Mr. Manning has used the results in the poll to remove certain MPs from running again, including Diane Seukaran. In other news, the PNM and COP are in a virtual tie in a poll recently completed by UWI.
Patrick Manning has received what could be construed as a failed grade as Prime Minister. This is the finding of the same poll, which, it is felt, caused Diane Seukeran to drop out, or be pushed out, of the race for the San Fernando West constituency in the upcoming general election. The poll was commissioned by Manning himself to determine the performance of his MPs.Seukeran, current MP for the constituency, in fact emerged as a more likeable person than Manning in the Bill Johnson poll conducted in San Fernando West.
Of those polled, 45 per cent said they had a favourable opinion of her, 30 per cent found her unfavourable and 25 per cent were not sure or could not identify her. But asked the same question about Manning, 39 per cent found him favourable, 44 per cent said he was unfavourable and 17 per cent of those polled were "not sure".
When it came to his job as Prime Minister, 36 per cent approved of how he was performing, 52 per cent disapproved, while those not sure totalled 12 per cent. Asked whether Manning should be re-elected as Prime Minister, 38 per cent said "yes" but 51 per cent said "someone else" should be elected. The "don't knows" stood at 11 per cent.
In other news, a poll by UWI/ANSA McAL poll showed the PNM and COP in a virtual tie leading up to elections. Most of the people polled said they would support COP leader Winston Dookeran (25 per cent) over PNM leader and incumbent Prime Minister Patrick Manning (23 per cent) for the post of Prime Minister.
However, when asked for which party they would vote in a general election, most people said they would cast their ballot for the PNM (27 per cent) over the COP (24 per cent). The UNC-Alliance did not fare very well in the poll, scoring less than 15 per cent in either category, a significant percentage of the people polled remained undecided.
Most people ruled out the likelihood of a UNC/COP alliance and more than 50 per cent of those polled said they would not support such an alliance.
