Pro-divorce majority confirmed, Xarabank polls 56% in favour of JPO proposal

Xarabank survey confirms pro divorce majority for JPO's private members bill in two consecutive MaltaToday surveys.

2 October 2010, 12:00am
by James Debono

2 min read

A survey commissioned by TV programme Xarabank shows that 56.3% of respondents would vote yes for divorce in a hypothetical referendum, based on Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando’s private member’s bill.

Two MaltaToday surveys asking the same question conducted in July and August had registered a pro divorce majority of 59%, slightly higher than the Xarabank survey but well within the margin of error of both surveys.

Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando’s private member’s bill, which is the only bill under consideration, limits the divorce option to couples who have been separated for more than 4 years.

But the Xarabank survey also shows that only 39.7% would vote for divorce in a hypothetical referendum, asking them whether ‘divorce should be introduced in Malta’. 47% would oppose it.

This result tallies with a Sunday Times survey published in August, which refrained from asking respondents how they would vote if divorce was introduced according to the Pullicino Orlando bill.

A MaltaToday conducted in August also showed lower support for divorce in this form of generic referendum, which is not based on any concrete legislative proposal. But the MaltaToday survey still registered a slight majority of 50.6% who would still favour divorce at least in certain circumstances.

The result of both the MaltaToday and Xarbank surveys shows that support for divorce in an eventual referendum depends on the wording of the question asked.

Similarly to MaltaToday, the Xarabank survey shows that the overwhelming majority of voters think that divorce should be introduced through a referendum.

The Xarabank survey indicates an increase in the number of those wanting a referendum on this issue, up from 58% in the MaltaToday July survey, to 67.3% in the more recent Xarabank survey.

The Xarabank survey shows a very high percentage of Labour voters (73.9% ) favouring divorce and a relative majority of Nationalists (47.4%) favouring divorce.

Similarly the MaltaToday survey showed 75.3% of Labour voters and 49.5% of Nationalist voters favouring divorce. As in the MaltaToday survey, Nationalist voters were more likely not to vote for their party again if it introduces divorce.

James Debono is MaltaToday's chief reporter on environment, planning and land use issues, ...

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Goverment and Opposition should get their heads together and decide on our behalf.Thats what they are paid to do. A referendum is not fair as even before it starts the NO has an advantage on the Yes. Can you imagine any of the priests,nuns, monks and the members of the various other Catholic Societies whose numbers run in thousands, voting Yes? This not to mention people, who keep repeating the same statistics and argument without even knowing what they are talking about.None of the above mentioned persons have ever been in a position to endure split lips,and broken teeth, bruised bodies and other physical violence which is endured by these victims day in day. All the 65 MPs are their to take decisions on our behalf so do you job and do not shirk your duty.

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Milanist...hanging carrots is the past time of Gonzi and Co.

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*note * = not vote ..

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those who say that they will note for thier political party because of divorce- I just have to say this- we cannot let a institution like (The CHurch) manipulate ,brain washing etc... with speaches of misleading with false and lies etc... don't be afraid of divorce- all was here all is here and all will still be here- everything is here- just making it as a law for who wants it- who is happy with his marriage that good for him/her- marriage is very nice if it is with love. everybody wants and needs love. sp who is happy with his marriage they should not be worry about divorce- who wanted to leave his partnet had done it and will continue to be done- so make divorce- no need to worry about the word- the Church is like a snake .. they can continue to speak yes cause they have thier right to speak like everyone else.But they have more serious things to discuss internally about one of the most cruelling things that a human can do- abuse sexually of kids ,thousands of kids have and are being sexaully abused ..what if those kids were our kids or us , what would we say? how would we feel ? so please ignore those snakes from the (church) even from them theer are priests who wishes to marry have a family and also who are in favour of women to be priests...................

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that is conflicts within a political party... it was our Hon. Prime Minister and his Co. that declared that they are against divorce and he said that we have a treasure here . ( maybe he wanted to say that the real treasure is having him as our Prime Minister :D)ehhehee.I don't think all in the PN are all against Divorce- would be a comedy if so.with all these immature declarations from our prime minister and his Co. It's pathetic that it comes from our prime minister - what a pity we have a prime minister speaking and acting that way, mixing religion and politics- I think he is being laughed even by our EU friends..... with such saying.........

mario grillo •

Dear MaltaToday, I think this survey will contradict once and for all your thesis that the Government/PN controls The Times, Where's Everbody, etc..... You accused the Government of pulling the strings of The Times when it published another survey which showed the majority of Maltese against divorce. Now that Xarabank has published a survey which shows the excact opposite, what will you say?

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In a recent survey conducted by The Times, a large majority of Maltese said that their views on divorce are their own, and not influenced by the church. Yet, in section 2.13 of this survey, one can clearly see a huge correlation between how often one hears mass, and how they would vote in the referendum. Among respondents who identified themselves as Catholic, the percentage of people who would vote in favour of JPO's bill are: 5% for those who attend mass daily 23% for those who attend more than once weekly 42% for those who attend weekly 71% for those who attend on special occasions. Seems to me like the church has a stronger influence on these people's minds than they realise.