DCDM poll in March: Xavier Duval is the country’s most popular politician

The Deputy Prime Minister Xavier Luc Duval is the country’s most popular politician with an approval rating of 81 points according to a poll undertaken by the research firm DCDM for March 2016.

The sample comprised of 600 persons aged 18 and above. Second on the list is President of the Republic Ameenah Gurib-Fakim (78 points), while Prime Minister Sir Anerood Jugnauth (77 points). The last three positions on the list are surprisingly occupied by three party leaders: Paul Bérenger (49 points), Pravind Jugnauth (48 points) and Navin Ramgoolam (28 points). The recent scandals have also taken their toll on approval ratings of Raj Dayal and Vishnu Lutchmeenaraidoo. They have lost the most points in this survey: minus 11 and 18 points respectively. The survey also reveals that the government has lost 12 points during the month of March 2016, to achieve a 62% level of popularity, the lowest recorded in the DCDM Opinion Research since the 2014 elections [minus 24 points since December 2014]. According to the DCDM Research, three cases have affected the government’s popularity: BAI case, the guilty verdict handed against Pravind Jugnauth and most recently, issues surrounding Ministers of the current government. DCDM Research found that the opposition derives no benefit from this drop in favourabled opinion of the government. After eight consecutive months of improvement from July 2015 to February 2016, the opposition sees its approval rate fall by 7 points in March 2016, standing at 48% as compared to 55% in February. An increasing number of people had an unfavourable opinion of the opinion, 9 points more over the month, 27% in February against 36% in March.