MaltaToday survey | Graduates more worried about environment, trust Busuttil more

The latest MaltaToday survey shows that the environment has emerged as the top concern of university-educated respondents.

The survey shows that 31% of respondents with a university level of education mentioned the environment (mainly land use and over-development) as one of their two top concerns.

The same survey shows immigration topping the list of concerns of respondents with a post-secondary level of education; employment topping the concerns of those with a secondary; and the cost of living topping the concerns of those with a primary level of education.

The university-educated also emerge as the only educational group where opposition leader Simon Busuttil is trusted more than Joseph Muscat. This particular educational group also registers the highest number of respondents who trust none of the two leaders.

On the other hand Prime Minister Joseph Muscat is more trusted than Busuttil among all other educational groups.

The educational divide

The survey shows that a marked difference in the list of concerns of the four educational groups. The only concern to feature in the top five concerns of all groups is employment.

Concern on employment is highest among respondents with a secondary level of education. Among this category 22% consider employment as one of their top two concerns.

Concern on the cost of living is highest among respondents with a primary level of education. While among this category, 17% mentioned the cost of living as one of their two top concerns, only 3% of the university-educated and 7% of those with a post-secondary education did likewise. Among secondary educated respondents concern on the cost of living rises to 11%.

Concern on utility bills only emerges as one of the top five concerns among respondents with a primary education.

While secondary-educated respondents tend to be more concerned with the cost of living, employment and utility bills, concern on the environment is highest among those with a university and secondary level of education.

While 31% of the university and 15% of the post-secondary educated mentioned the environment as one of their top two concerns, the percentage of those who did likewise falls to 7% among those with a primary and secondary education.

While concern on immigration is relatively low among the university-educated (6%) it rises to 20% among those with a post secondary education. Moreover concern on immigration is higher among those with a secondary education (11%) than those with a primary education (7%).

Concern on the new Individual Investment Programme only emerges as one of the top five concerns among the university-educated among whom concern on the sale of citizenship is expressed by 16% of respondents.

Concern on the new citizenship programme falls to 7% among the post-secondary educated and to 2% among the secondary educated.

On the other hand concern on health is markedly higher among those with a lower education.  While 14% of those with a primary level of education mention health as one of their two top concerns the percentage of those who do likewise falls 3% among the university educated.

Concern on public transport is also higher among those with a secondary level of education.  Among this category 13% mention public transport as one of their two top concerns. On the other hand concern on traffic (9%) and roads is highest among those with a university level of education (13%).

Concern on public finances and the economy is highest among those with a post-secondary level of education (17%).

The age divide

The survey shows that public transport is the main concern of under-34 year-olds just above concern on jobs.

Employment tops the concerns of the other age groups. Concern on the environment is higher among over 35-year-olds than among those aged under this age while concern on immigration is lower among those aged over 55 years of age. Concern on health and the cost of living is also higher among more elderly respondents.

PM least popular among university educated

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat emerges from the survey as the most trusted leader among all educational categories except the university-educated.

They were also the least likely to judge Muscat's performance as prime minister positively.

Significantly, while Busuttil enjoys an 11-point lead over Muscat among the university-educated Muscat enjoys a 10-point lead over Busuttil among the post secondary educated.

The gap in favour of Muscat increases to 26 points among the secondary educated and to 30 points among those with a primary education.

The highest percentage of respondents who trust neither of the two leaders is also found among the university educated, a quarter of which express this sentiment. The percentage of respondents who trust neither leader falls to 12% and 11% among the other categories.

Secondary-educated respondents are the most likely to judge Muscat's performance as Prime Minister positively.

While 51% of this category judge Muscat positively only 34% of the university-educated express the same judgement.

But Muscat fares better among the post-secondary educated, 42% of which judge his performance positively.

47% of university-educated respondents judge the PM's performance as "so-so".

The survey also shows that Busuttil is most popular among those aged over 55 and weakest among those aged between 35 and 54 years of age.

Methodology

567 respondents were contacted by telephone between Monday 2 December and Thursday 5 December.  400 accepted to be interviewed.  The results of the survey were weighed to reflect the age and gender balance of the population. The survey has a margin of error of +/-4.9%.