Islanders split on status

By Andrew Clarke

(News from 2000-10-18 Edition)

HALF of all islanders favour granting long-term residents status including the right to vote a Bermuda Sun poll suggests.

Of these status proponents, more than half are registered voters, and a little over one third are black.

The poll shows that 50.6 per cent of islanders feel that long-term residents should be granted status: 42.9 per cent are against, while 6.5 per cent are undecided.

In the poll, conducted by Research Innovations, 403 residents were randomly chosen and asked their views on the future rights of long term residents (LTRs) in Bermuda.

Government tabled a Green Paper on the subject before the summer recess and recently concluded a series of public forums aimed at garnering public opinion on the future tenure of expatriates who have been living in Bermuda prior to July 31, 1989.

And according to pollster and independent researcher Walton Brown, the poll’s results are in stark contrast to the opinions expressed at public forums on the matter.

The views of registered voters mirror those of islanders overall: Half of them agree with granting LTRs either full status (50.5 per cent) or some form of long term security of tenure to live and work (51.1 per cent).

These are the people to whom the politicians ultimately listen, Mr. Brown said. And the fact 50 per cent favour giving [LTRs] full status is interesting from a political point of view.

The figures appear to underscore the widely held feeling that the vehement anti-status views voiced at public forums on the issue were not indicative of broader Bermudian sentiment.

The public forums, billed by Minister Paula Cox as an opportunity for gauging public opinion on what the future of LTRs in Bermuda should be, were characterized by those in attendance as stormy and passionate - at times even bigoted.

Paula Cox, the Government Minister responsible for drafting the Green Paper on LTRs called for calm debate and respect to be shown by all participants across the island.

The Bermuda Sun poll suggests that just under half of all registered voters (46.4 per cent) either attended the Government sponsored meetings in person or tuned into them on the radio. And that an almost even number of blacks (46.3 per cent) and whites (43.7 per cent) made an effort to be better informed on the issue of LTRs by listening to the public discussions.

Respondents were asked to indicate into which category their annual household income falls. Mr. Brown said the results suggest that as people’s income changes, so too do their views. But he cautioned against reading anything into the raw numbers of people in each income category. The trend only suggests, he said, that people’s views differ with income.

Two thirds of respondents (67.4 per cent) with a household annual income of more than $100,000 said that they were in favour of granting full status to LTRs. While less than half (46.2 per cent) of median range income earners ($50,000-$100,000) agreed. And fewer than one third (29.5 per cent) with a combined income of less than $50,000 per year said they would like to see LTRs receive status.

A roughly equal number of males (49.2 per cent) and females (51.9 per cent) thought LTRs should be granted Bermuda status. And a majority of seniors (64 per cent) advocated giving status. Among those aged 35 to 54, half (49.2 per cent) favoured the granting of status, while 41.4 per cent of those aged 18 to 34 years felt the same way.

After the first public forum in September, United Bermuda Party (UBP) MP, Michael Dunkley said long term residents had been intimidated in speaking out. He believed there were also many Bermudians who felt strongly on the issue and did not speak out either... Just because most people at the forums spoke out against [extending] LTR’s rights at the forums, doesn’t necessarily mean people as a whole are not in favour of granting [LTR] with some form of future security, he said at the time.

Opposition Leader Pamela Gordon also weighed in after the first meeting, describing some of the meeting’s attendees as professional hecklers.

Also, fellow MP and long-time advocate for Portuguese rights Trevor Moniz had said only the bold [ever] stand up at a public meeting and these are usually the people who espouse nationalistic views, anyhow.

Describing the people he had spoken to after the meetings as disgusted by the xenophobic views and prejudice expressed, Mr. Moniz said, if you really want to gauge people’s true feelings then you either need to have a referendum or conduct an independent poll.

Asked whether the numbers of people asked were statistically significant in gauging the public’s feelings on the issue, Mr. Brown said: The sample size [400 people] is appropriate for a research study of this sort in Bermuda.

Adding that polls are carried out every day in the U.S. using samples of less than 1000 people, Mr. Brown added that 400 is a great number [in Bermuda] to work with and predict trends.