Uncommitted voters could decide election outcome - Gordon

 

Political commentator Damion Gordon says uncommitted voters could decide which of the two main political parties win or lose the September 3 general election.  

 

The latest RJRGLEANER-commissioned Don Anderson poll shows that the Jamaica Labour Party and the People's National Party are in a statistical dead heat. 

 

According to the poll, 34.7 per cent of respondents say they would vote for the PNP, while marginally trailing behind is the governing Jamaica Labour Party at 33.9 per cent. 

 

The poll shows that voter apathy is a factor in the general election as 17.1 per cent have indicated that they will not be voting or are not planning to do so. 

 

The remaining 14.3 per cent make up the undecided members of the voting public. That group fell 6.4 points, from 37.8 per cent in the May-June poll to 31.4 per cent in August. 

 

Speaking Thursday on the Morning Agenda on Power 106, Mr. Gordon, an assistant lecturer in the Department of Government at the University of the West Indies, said based on the findings, more undecided voters have found favour with or have returned to the Jamaica Labour Party. This is shown by support for the JLP jumping 4.3 percentage points from 29.6 per cent in May-June to 33.9 per cent.

 

"It would appear based on the latest findings that more of those undecided voters are breaking for the Jamaica Labour Party, to the extent that the lead that the People's National Party should have enjoyed - it was 6 per cent I think in January - it decreased to 3 per cent or under in the last poll and the political parties now are in a statistical dead heat. They are separated by less than a point. We know that the margin of error is minus 3 per cent, so it means that the People's National Party could be three points ahead or three points behind. So it's clear that some of the undecided voters have since made up their mind and more of those voters are breaking for the Jamaica Labour Party," he reasoned. 

 

The commentator sought to clarify that undecided voters are not necessarily new voters, but could be disgruntled supporters of the two main political parties. 

 

Mr. Gordon said the close race between the two main political parties is not surprising when the intense campaigning to reach voters over the last few weeks is taken into account.

 

"But I think that over the next two weeks, as we see a further intensification of the campaign, I feel strongly that some of the people who are undecided currently, who I think are disgruntled supporters of the two political parties, will make up their minds. So we'll see that number or the percentage of undecided voters further reduce as we near the election," he surmised.