[www.inewsguyana.com] – Guyanese will head to the polls in less than three months and even as the political parties move into the height of their campaigning activities, the results of a 2014 survey have revealed that 1 in 4 Guyanese believe that politics is the most serious problem facing the country.
A representative sample of 1,558 Guyanese was surveyed between June 4 – July 12, 2014 under the Americas Barometer, and an open ended question was posed to them regarding what they believe is the most serious problem faced by the country.
The responses were coded and the results indicated that 25.6% of the persons surveyed believed that politics is the most serious problem, with persons giving responses such as corruption, poor government and politicians.
The Americas Barometer in 2006 and 2009 showed that less than 15% of the persons surveyed responded in that way. Other categories of problems facing the country as identified by the participants included basic services, security the economy
In the 2014 survey, Guyanese were also asked to what extent they trust the political parties in the country on a scale of 0 to 100, with 0 being the least trust and 100 the most trust.
Based on the responses to this question, it was found that young people have more trust in political parties than older age cohorts.
In the age range of 16-25, the score was recorded at 42.21, this being the highest score among those surveyed.
The 2014 Americas Barometer is based on national surveys from 28 countries in the Americas, including Venezuela, Costa Rica, the United States, Canada and Colombia.
