Some tables from the Lowy/Tebbutt poll

STOP PRESS.  And an article on the poll by Graham Davis in Grubsheet.  I published a substantial article on this poll three weeks ago "The People have Spoken: Methodology Sound" in which I made the point that government opponents would seek to trivialise the poll results, mainly on the grounds of its methodology and the conditions under which it was carried out. Dr Jon Fraenkel's article in The Australian is the latest. I print some of the poll table results here to show the wide range of responses and disagreement with government on some topics.  Media censorship and a so-called "climate of fear" may, as opponents claim, have influenced the results to some extent but the results (as the tables show) display a wide range of opinions not consistent with misinformation or intimidation. Opponents also fail to heed Jenny Hayward-Jones of the Lowy Institute that commissioned the poll.  She'd hoped, and expected, the poll would have shown pubic opposition to the Bainimarama government.  She did not like the results but she stands by its conclusions. Readers interested in the original poll report should copy and paste http://www.lowyinstitute.org/ on the url line; then  scroll down to "Fiji at home and in the world".  The photo of Bainimarama should help you to find it quickly.   -- Croz
	Bainimarama's performance as Prime Minister (%)
	Very	Fairly	.	Fairly	Very	Don't know/
	good	Good	Average	poor	poor	Refused
	39	27	25	5	3	2
	Government performance – Services (%)
	Very	Fairly	.	Fairly	Very	Don't know/
	good	Good	Average	poor	poor	Refused
Education	56	26	15	1	2
Transport	43	28	21	4	4
Health	38	31	19	6	5
	Government performance – General (%)
	Very	Fairly	.	Fairly	Very	Don't know/
	good	Good	Average	poor	poor	Refused
Racial inequalities	34	33	26	4	3
Land ownership	32	31	23	6	5	2
Employment opportunities	32	27	24	10	6
Economy	23	36	28	6	6
Poverty	23	32	28	9	7	1
Draft new Constitution	18	35	32	6	4	5
Progress to elections	21	31	28	8	8	4
Reform electoral system	18	33	31	8	5	5
	Effects of new Constitution (%)
	Strongly	Partly		Partly	Strongly	DK/R
	Agree	Agree		Disagree	Disagree
Better democracy	44	39		7	4	5
End racial inequalities	40	37		11	7	6
End Coup Culture	36	34		13	10	6
	Present role of the military forces (%)
	Strongly	Partly		Partly	Strongly	DK/R
	Approve	Approve		Disapprove	Disapprove
	31	37		12	19	1
	Military should play permanent role in politics (%)
	Strongly	Partly		Partly	Strongly	DK/R
	Agree	Agree		Disagree	Disagree
	24	29		14	32	1
	Media now more reliable and trustworthy (%)
	Strongly	Partly	Same	Partly	Strongly	DK/R
	Agree	Agree		Disagree	Disagree
	15	28	31	16	6	1
	Should religious organisations be involved in politics (%)
	Not		A.		A	DK/R
	at all		little		lot
	66		20		14
	Form of government (%)
	Democracy	Non-democracy in			Doesn't	DK/R
	preferable	some circumstances			matter*
	53	25			21	1
					* to someone like me.