President Goodluck Jonathan’s job approval rating suffered a paltry setback in the month that just ended with a four-point decline as four in 10 Nigerians which account for 42 per cent of a study sample approved of his performance for the month of April.
This, however, signified some measure of setback as against his below-average record in March 2013, where he was rated 46 per cent, also by study sample.
A similar study had last month predicted high voter turn-out in the next general election because majority of the voting population had resolved to have a hand in their choice of leaders in 2015.
According to the latest weekly results released by NOI Polls Limited, a major factor responsible for the decline was the poor showing of the economy in the area of power which study showed has taken downward slope in recent time.
“The results also indicate that 50 per cent Nigerians rate the performance of the current administration as average. In addition, Nigerians have continued to experience worsening power supply, as over five in 10 Nigerians (51 per cent) say power supply has gone worse in the month of April, up from 46 per cent in March. These are the key findings for this month’s governance poll,” the poll results have discovered.
The results presented were the fourth in the monthly series of governance polls conducted by NOI Polls to gauge the opinions and perceptions of Nigerians regarding three crucial elements – the approval rating of the president, the performance of the current administration, and the situation of power supply in the country.
Respondents to the polls were asked three specific questions. The first was on the approval rating of President Jonathan over the past one month and they were asked: ‘Do you approve or disapprove of the performance of the president in the past one month?’
From their responses, the majority which accounts for 39 per cent approved of the President’s performance, while three per cent strongly approved and followed by 25 per cent that was neutral. But 29 per cent of the respondents disapproved while four per cent strongly disapproved. Overall, a total of 42 per cent of the respondents (39 per cent + 3 per cent) approved the performance of the president, while a total of 33 per cent (29+4 per cent) disapproved of his performance.
Curiously, when subjected to geo-political analysis, the polls showed critical disparities in certain areas. The Approval rating of the president was highest in the South-south, being his political base with 59 per cent and followed by the South-east with 58 per cent.
It was, however, lowest in the North-Central with 23 per cent, followed by the South-west where he had 29 per cent.
Interestingly, these two regions, according to results, had the highest proportion of respondents that disapproved of Jonathan’s job performance. In the same vein, the North-Central had the highest proportion of 41 per cent of Nigerians who neither approve nor disapprove of his performance.
Thus, when the current figures were compared to those of the March poll, results showed a four-point decline in Jonathan’s approval rating from a total of 46 per cent in March 2013 to 42 per cent in the month that just ended.
The proportion of Nigerians that disapproved of his performance had therefore increased by three-points, from a total of 30 per cent in March 2013 to 33 per cent at present.
In the same vein, the percentage of respondents that rated Jonathan’s performance as neutral increased, again by four-points from 21 per cent to 25 per cent.
Ironically, while the majority of Nigerians currently approve of the president’s performance, his approval rating has continued to experience consistent decline in the last three months.
Although the decline observed in April was not as steep as that of March, the current results currently represent the lowest approval rating for the President since January of this year.
In terms of performance of the entire administration which included the federal cabinet and the governors and their respective cabinets, respondents were asked: How would you rate the performance of the current administration in the last month?
Overall, the majority which represents 50 per cent said the administration has “performed averagely,” while 29 per cent were of the opinion that “they have performed poorly.” In addition, 15 per cent thought “they have performed well,” while five per cent said “they have performed very poorly,” and one per cent said “they have performed very well.
On the third criterion which was power supply and believed to have accounted for the consistent decline across the country, respondents were asked: How would you describe power supply in your area where you live in the last one month?
Results showed that the majority in the category of 29 per cent representation stated that their power supply “has improved a little” and this was closely followed by 27 per cent which claimed it “remains bad”. But a representation of 24 per cent of Nigerians said “it’s very bad and has gone worse”; while 18 per cent said “there’s no difference at all”. Yet, meager two per cent was of the opinion that power supply “has improved very much”.
There were a few differences across the geo-political zones that were worthy of note. The South-east and South-south, for instance, had the highest proportion of respondents that thought that power supply had improved, representing 39 per cent in total while the South-west which commanded 36 per cent and the North-west which represented 28 per cent, claimed there was no difference at all in their power supply.
The North-east had the highest proportion of respondents that claimed power supply was bad in April and that accounted for 68 per cent overall and also that it was very bad and has gone worse. This was represented in the region of 34 per ce
Comparatively, the current results showed a five-point increase in the proportion of respondents across the country who claimed their power supply had worsened over the last month. In April, 51 per cent claimed its power supply was bad or had worsened, compared to the 46 per cent
JD:I am not too sure of these ratings.to be honest we really havent had credible scientific ratings in this country for a while.what i do know is that quite a large number of citizens of this country i come in contact with are dissatisfied with this government ,chikena
No doubt that “most right thinking Nigerians” know that GEJ has no little or no clue as to how to manage this country, so it is no surprise to me that his “approval rating” is this low. In fact,i am even surprise it is this high.