THUMBS DOWN: Most Seabreeze and St Barnabas constituents feel country going in wrong direction, survey shows

THUMBS DOWN: Most Seabreeze and St Barnabas constituents feel country going in wrong direction, survey shows
(FILE)

NASSAU, BAHAMAS — The vast majority of respondents surveyed in Seabreeze and Saint Barnabas believe the nation is headed in the wrong direction, according to a new report produced by Bahamian consulting, communications and public engagement firm Open Current.

However, those constituents have yet to make up their minds on which political party they will vote for at the polls.

Lanisha Rolle.

The constituencies are currently represented by Lanisha Rolle and Shanendon Cartwright respectively.

In Seabreeze, 23 percent of respondents said The Bahamas was going in the right direction, while 54 percent opined that the country was headed in the wrong direction.

In Saint Barnabas, 22 percent of respondents said The Bahamas was going in the right direction, while a whopping 70 percent said they believed the nation was headed in the wrong direction.

A look at the data by age group showed the view of the country going in the wrong direction was more widely held by younger people — those between the age of 18 and 35.

Shanendon Cartwright.

A total of 60 percent of respondents in that age group in Seabreeze and 70 percent of respondents in that age group in Saint Barnabas held that view.

The door-to-door survey was performed between July 9 and July 15.

Open Current surveyed 409 residents in Seabreeze and 391 residents in Saint Barnabas.

Open Current did not indicate what led the firm to survey those particular constituencies and whether there were plans to survey others.

Senior Partner Joey Gaskins Jr wrote in an interview memo on the data: “You will note that our sample size for a single constituency is comparable to the sample size of some national polling floating around out there.

Joey Gaskins Jr.

“Our data has also been weighted to represent the population based on age and gender.”

Respondents were also asked whether they had decided preferences for a party or party leader.

According to the data, 22 percent of respondents in Seabreeze said they had a “clear preference”, while 40 percent had “no idea”.

Another 26 percent of respondents in Seabreeze said while they did not know whom they would vote for, they knew who would not get their vote.

In Saint Barnabas, 34 percent of respondents said they already know which party or leader they would vote for; 18 percent said they had no idea; and 35 percent said they were still uncertain, but knew who would not get their vote.

The top three priorities for respondents in both constituencies were job opportunities, economic growth and health, though the order of those priorities slightly varied between the two areas.

Forty-five percent of respondents in Seabreeze chose employment and job opportunity as their top priorities, with healthcare at 39 percent and economic growth at 37 percent trailing behind.

Over in Saint Barnabas, 63 percent of respondents said employment and job opportunities were their top priorities.

Another 58 percent of respondents said economic growth and 39 percent said healthcare.

About Royston Jones Jr.

Royston Jones Jr. is a senior digital reporter and occasional TV news anchor at Eyewitness News. Since joining Eyewitness News as a digital reporter in 2018, he has done both digital and broadcast reporting, notably providing the electoral analysis for Eyewitness News’ inaugural election night coverage, “Decision Now 2021”.