PNP and JLP fancy election chances despite dead heat in polls

  

People's National Party (PNP) General Secretary Dr. Dayton Campbell says the party is not panicking amid a statistical dead heat in the polls between the two main political parties heading into the September 3 general election. 

 

According to the latest Don Anderson poll, 34.7 per cent of respondents say they would vote for the People's National Party, while trailing marginally behind is the governing Jamaica Labour Party at 33.9 per cent. 

 

Dr. Campbell has welcomed the findings, noting that the PNP has managed to maintain its lead over the last two years. 

 

He said the increase in Opposition Leader Mark Golding's favourability rating is another indication that the party is in good standing. 

 

Dr. Campbell believes the organisation of the party will enable it to be victorious in the next general election.

 

"We have been spending the time to ensure that at the constituency level, that we are organised. The workers are in place, they are trained, they are motivated, we have done our canvassing, we know where our voters are, we have a mechanism in place to get them out on the day and we have the resources to execute on the plans that we have. These polls were also conducted before we released a manifesto. Since then we have been able to attract some more support, especially with the no tax on overtime and no tax on tips," the PNP general secretary suggested.

 

He added: "Quite a few persons are also excited about the housing proposals, and it would have been after the JLP had their mass meeting and after they produced their achievement document. So we think that we still would be able to compete and win the election. The tight poll is probably a blessing because it will ensure that our people are not complacent but they understand that we have to go there and get to every single vote."

 

Meanwhile, Dr. Campbell, who was speaking Wednesday on Radio Jamaica's Beyond the Headlines, said that the PNP has seen a clear path to winning 38 constituencies in the next general election.

 

"It is going to be hand to hand combat, but we are prepared. We were prepared for this moment. To be frank, we were prepared to go into an election when we started in 2020 if we were behind. And so to be ahead is better than we anticipated when we started out. And so we are still confident that we will be able to execute on the day. We see the clear path to 38 constituencies, and so we're still putting it out there that we should win 38 constituencies." 

 

Despite trailing in the Don Anderson poll, member of the Jamaica Labour Party's Communication Task Force Marlon Morgan believes his party remains upbeat. He said the JLP has also conducted its own polls.

 

"For us in the JLP, we approach discussions such as this within a particular context. We have other polls at our disposal and we are mindful of what those findings are unearthing as well. So we are upbeat. The clear momentum is with Team JLP, when you consider even these Don Anderson polls as at August," said the JLP spokesperson.

 

Mr. Morgan, who was also a guest on Beyond the Headlines, said the JLP manifesto is complete and will be released within the next few days. He said JLP campaign director Dr. Christopher Tufton will reveal further details.

 

Meanwhile, Dr. Campbell said the PNP will be putting out a 'manifesto light' after the JLP releases its own declaration of intentions.

 

"Because we didn't put out all our proposals. So we still have a manifesto light that will come, that will summarise some of the things that are in the longer manifesto and will come with some new ideas that I'm excited about myself and I'm sure other persons will find as exciting and appealing. We know what they're going to do. We say we're building 50,000 houses, they're going to come and say they're going to build 60,000. So we didn't put out all that we wanted to put out because when you're in this game, we have to use brain. If we don't have money, we have to use brain power. And so we are going to put that out after they put out theirs," he asserted.