Chairman of the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) Bradley Roberts said Leader of the Opposition Dr. Hubert Minnis should be careful in asking for an immediate general election as Bahamians are fair and balanced in assessing Prime Minster Perry Christie.
Based on results from the Inter-American Bank funded survey that took place between June and October of last year, Mr. Roberts said the initial observation was that 47 per cent of Bahamians believe that Prime Minister Christie is either performing ‘good’ or ‘very good’ in leading the country.
“Bahamians on balance were able to see through much of the blatant bias, unjustifiable criticisms and political spin and appreciate the poor state of national affairs inherited by Mr. Christie and the tough, difficult, sometimes unpopular but necessary decisions the prime minister made over the first 29 months of his administration in the best interest of all Bahamians,” he said.
Mr. Roberts commented on his main observation of Mr. Christie receiving the support of 47 per cent of Bahamians in saying that he is performing either ‘good’ or ‘very good’.
“This is a fair and balanced assessment of the prime minister’s performance after 29 months on the job and any student of politics would tell you that by any objective international measure, this is good news. United States President Barak Obama has a jobs approval rating of 4 per cent which is reported as good in the American press. Additionally, 32.2 per cent of Bahamians surveyed graded Mr. Christie’s performance as “fair.” When added to the grades of “good” (37.4 per cent) and “very good” (9.5 per cent), the prime minister’s approval rating is catapulted to 79.1 per cent.
Now commenting on Dr. Minnis’ recent calls for a general election, Mr. Roberts said these results are bad news to the Free National Movement as he says, the Bahamian people know who they want.
“Needless to say, in light of the customary ‘midterm blues’ among voters, these results are very good news for Mr. Christie and his PLP government,” he said.
“However, this is very bad news for Dr. Hubert Minnis and the opposition FNM who appear to read the proverbial tea leaves from daily radio talk shows and salacious newspaper headlines in gauging the country’s political barometer. I guess that is why he keeps challenging Mr. Christie to call a general election now, but he should be very careful what he asks for.”
Mr. Roberts said Bahamians looked within their hearts and 9.5 per cent of them assigned a grade of “A” to Mr. Christie; 37.4 per cent assigned him a grade of “B” and 32.2 per cent assigned the prime minister a grade of “C.”
He urged the Christie Administration to use these results as motivation to work harder and do more on behalf of the Bahamian people.
