Rate The Minister | Chris Fearne is top performer for Labourites and Nationalists

Chris Fearne has been voted as the best performing minister, in a MaltaToday survey with support for the deputy prime minister cutting across the political divide.

Fearne, who is also responsible for health, obtained a rating of 27.9% when respondents were asked to indicate one minister who they believe has performed well.

The result is in line with expectations given Fearne’s sober and re-assuring attitude throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

Fearne achieves a rating of 30.8% among Labour voters and 26.1% among Nationalist voters, placing first in both instances.

In second place overall, is Infrastructure Minister Ian Borg with 11%. Borg was entrusted in 2017 with government’s ambitious plan to overhaul Malta’s road network.

The young minister has delivered on major road upgrades and others are in the pipeline.

Borg achieves a rating of 17.4% among Labour voters, placing second behind Fearne, and 5.6% among Nationalist voters.

Fearne and Borg are the only two ministers who feature in the top five list of both PL and PN voters.

Foreign Minister Evarist Bartolo (3.9%), Economy Minister Silvio Schembri (3.6%) and Finance Minister Edward Scicluna (2.9%) complete the overall top five list.

Interestingly, Bartolo’s support is derived from Nationalist voters. He features second behind Fearne with 9.1% among PN voters and just scrapes through at the bottom of the list among PL voters.

Bartolo coined the term kitchen cabinet to describe the decision-making process under the Muscat administration while testifying in the Daphne Caruana Galizia public inquiry, something that may have curried him favour with PN critics of late.

The top five list (apart from Fearne, Borg and Bartolo) according to PN voters includes Culture Minister Jose Herrera (3.1%) and Environment Minister Aaron Farrugia (2.8%).

The top five list (apart from Fearne and Borg) according to PL voters includes Silvio Schembri (6.5%), Edward Scicluna (5.1%) and Social Policy Minister Michael Falzon (4%).

Schembri, Scicluna and Falzon took a higher profile during the pandemic as they fronted the rescue package in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

In the overall rankings, Fearne and Schembri enjoy higher preference among women voters, while Borg, Bartolo and Scicluna enjoy more support among men.

Support for Fearne is relatively constant across all age groups. He posts his highest result (31.3%) among those aged between 51 and 65, and his lowest (23.9%) among those aged 65 and over.

Second-placed Borg enjoys support ranging between 11.8% and 14.3% among those aged between 18 and 65 but trails off at 3.8% among those aged above 65.