A tracking opinion survey on Guyana’s general elections conducted by North American Caribbean Teachers Association (NACTA) in mid-August showed the PPP Presidential candidate Donald Ramotar is more preferred over David Granger of the Alliance Party for National Unity (APNU), Khemraj Ramjattan of the Alliance For Change (AFC), C.N Sharma of Justice For All Party (JFAP) and other candidates for the Presidency. The survey also shows the incumbent People’s Progressive Party (PPP) way ahead of its challengers in popular support and is likely to win the upcoming general elections constitutionally due by year end.
NACTA, founded in New York by Caribbean educators, said it has no affiliation with any political party adding that it  has been conducting polls regularly in Guyana, the Caribbean and other regions over the last 20 years. The latest Guyana poll was conducted to determine peoples’ preference for the Presidency, approval ratings for the President, and popular support for the political parties.
The poll randomly interviewed 420 voters to yield a demographically representative sample (45% Indians, 30% Africans, 16% Mixed, 8% Amerindians, and 1% other races) of the population.
NACTA said the survey was conducted by interviewers with many years of experience in survey interviewing and was coordinated by Vishnu Bisram, a pollster, newspaper columnist, and an educator in NY. The results of the poll were analyzed at a 95 per cent significance level and a statistical sampling error of plus or minus five-percentage point was found.  Sampling results based on subgroups (such as Indians or Africans) have a larger sampling error of about 6%.
Asked who they prefer as President of Guyana among the available choices representing the varied parties, 46% opted for Ramotar, 23% chose Granger, 8% Ramjattan, 1% Sharma and less than 1% all other candidates, with 21% not making a choice.  Mr. Sharma is the most popular among the candidates but he is not getting traction in voter support. Many voters said they would have preferred other prominent personalities as President including Robert Corbin, Moses Nagamootoo, Robert Persaud, Ralph Ramkarran, Basil Williams, Irfan Ali, Faith Harding, etc.
In terms of popular support, the PPP is polling 47%, followed by APNU 24%, AFC 7%, JFAP 1%, other parties less than 1%, and 20% undecided or no response.  With the election is still months away and opinions could change by then.
Asked if they are satisfied with Jagdeo’s overall performance as President for the last 12 years, 63% said yes with 24% saying no and 13% not sure or offered no answer.
Asked if they approve of the job the President is currently doing, 71% said yes, with 23% saying no and 6% not sure.

Who do you prefer as President?

Candidate
Donald Ramotar      46%
David Granger         23%
Khem Ramjattan       8%
C.N Sharma              1%
Others                      1%
Not Sure                 21%

Which party will you vote for if elections are called?
PPP      APNU     AFC    JFA     Others   Undecided
47%       24           7         1          1              20

Do you approve of the performance of President Jagdeo?
Yes       No        Not Sure
71%       23%          6%