Best of times no more as 69% think country is taking a wrong turn

The snapshot of Maltese society emerging from the latest MaltaToday survey is characterised by a pessimistic outlook and a general sense of malaise.

It suggests that the feel-good factor is fast evaporating as inflation takes its toll on personal finances.

The survey finds that 69% of Maltese voters think the country is ‘going in the wrong direction’, while only a fifth of respondents are seeing an improvement in their personal finances as 39% are feeling the pinch.

And clearly the pinch on income is also contributing to political disenchantment with inflation emerging as the major concern of non-voters, followed by concerns about the large presence of ‘foreigners’ living in Malta.

But despite this creeping disenchantment, the government’s performance is still given an overall score of 2.5 out of a maximum of 5 - a pass mark which indicates lukewarm approval albeit one characterised by a general lack of enthusiasm.     

For the first time in MaltaToday’s surveys, respondents were asked whether they think the country is going in the right or the wrong direction - a standard question used in surveys internationally to assess the public mood.

In a result which defies the upbeat tone which characterised Labour’s term in office after 2013, the survey shows that while 69% think Malta is going in the wrong direction, only 31% think the country is going in the right direction.

This represents a sharp change in the public mood from just a year ago when a Eurobarometer survey conducted by the European Commission in October 2022 showed that a staggering 65% of Maltese respondents thought the country was going in the right direction.

The mood has progressively deteriorated over the past 12 months. Another Eurobarometer survey conducted in May 2023 showed that the proportion of people who think Malta is going in the right direction decreased by 29 points to only 36%.

The MaltaToday survey now shows a further five-point decline in the percentage of people who think the country is going in the right direction.

A breakdown by age shows that respondents aged between 16 and 35 (77%) of those aged between 36 and 50 (79%) are the most likely to think that Malta has taken a wrong turn.

On a regional level, respondents in Gozo are the most positive with 45% believing that the country is going in the right direction. People living in the PN-leaning Northern region where 76.5% think the country has taken a wrong turn, are the most negative.

Significantly a strong majority in the Labour leaning Southern Harbour (64%) and South-Eastern regions (61%) also think the country has taken a wrong turn.

Significantly nearly half of Labour voters in the 2022 general election (49%) and more than one fourth (27%) of its current voters think that the country is going in the wrong direction.

The sentiment that the country has taken a wrong turn rises to 86.9% among current non-voters and among tertiary educated voters (84.5%).

Cost of living weighing on personal finances

Also contributing to the bleak outlook is the fact that only a fifth or respondents (21%) think their personal finances are getting better.

In contrast, 39% think that their personal finances have taken a turn for the worse while 40% are not experiencing any change.

Respondents aged between 36 and 50 who are in the middle of their working lives and more likely to have dependent children, were the most likely to feel the pinch. In this age group 43% say their finances are deteriorating.

The survey also found that respondents in this age bracket were the most likely not to vote in a general election.

On a regional level the pinch is felt most in the Labour leaning Southeastern region which also registers a high percentage of non-voters (36%).  In this region 49% say their finances have taken a turn for the worse.

In an indication that the lower middle class is the most impacted by rising prices, among respondents with a post-secondary education 46% are experiencing a decline in their finances in contrast to 38% of university educated respondents.

And in an indication that abstention is driven by economic factors, 49% of current non-voters are experiencing a decline in their financial situation.  Among this category only 10% have seen an improvement in their financial situation.

Foreigners and inflation emerge as top concern

When respondents were asked to state what worries them most about the state of the country, 25% of respondents referred to the number of foreigners living in Malta as their main concern closely followed by inflation (24%).

But while foreigners are clearly a top concern of current Labour voters (31%), the cost of living is the top concern of current non-voters (36%).

The survey shows that current Labour voters are more concerned with foreigners than PN voters. ‘Foreigners’ ranks third after corruption and the cost of living among PN voter concerns.

Concern on foreigners is also strong among non-voters, 30% of which referred to the number of foreigners as their main concern.

On the other hand, corruption tops the concerns of PN voters (23.5%) in contrast to non-voters amongst which 5% regard corruption as their main concern and to Labour voters where concern on corruption falls to 1.5%.

This suggests that despite a series of scandals which rocked the government during the summer including the disability pensions racket and ministerial recommendations for candidates sitting for their driving exams, disenchantment among non-voters is more likely to be driven by the decrease in purchasing power and the number of foreigners.

Overall, the only other major concerns mentioned by respondents are traffic (13%) and the inconveniences caused by construction (8%).  All other concerns are mentioned by less than 3% of respondents.

A breakdown by age shows that respondents aged between 16 and 35 are the least concerned by the number of foreigners in Malta (18%) and most concerned on inflation (30%).

On the other hand, respondents aged between 36 and 50 are the most concerned with the presence of foreigner (34%).

Concern on traffic is highest among 16- to 35-year-olds (17%) while concern on construction rises to 10% among those aged between 51 and 65.

On a regional level concern on foreigners in highest in the Labour leaning Southern Harbour region (34%) and lowest in Gozo (16%). Concern on inflation is highest in the Labour leaning Southeastern region (30%) which also includes the largest percentage of non-voters.

Concern on construction is highest in Gozo a region where a record 7,447 new dwellings were approved between 2018 and 2022, of which 1,885 were approved last year.   In Gozo concern on construction (27%) ranks a close second to inflation (28%).

At nearly 15%, concern on traffic is highest in the Southeastern and the Northern regions.

Government gets a pass mark

When asked to rate the government’s performance on a scale from 0 to 5, with 0 being very bad and 5 very good, respondents gave the government an average score of 2.5.

A breakdown by age shows the government registering its lowest score among 36- to 50-year-olds (2.4) and its best score among over 50-year-olds (2.7).

On a regional level the government is given the lowest rating by inhabitants of the Western region (2.3) and inhabitants of the northern region (2.3). The government just scrapes the pass mark in the Labour leaning Southern Harbour and Southeastern regions, with a 2.7 rating while in Gozo the government score falls to 2.6.

The government gets a 2.5 pass mark in the Northern Harbour region which includes major urban centres like Sliema, Qormi and Birkirkara.

A breakdown by education shows the government getting its best score among those with a primary level of education (2.9) and its worse score among post-secondary and tertiary educated respondents (2.4).

Significantly the government only gets a rating of 2.3 among the current crop of non-voters.