Sunday, March 02, 2008
Slugger reader survey
Iain Dale is running a survey to see how readers rate various politicians. O’Neill is canvassing a bit.
I’ve done a short one for Slugger, with a couple of questions to see what the reader profile of this blog is, and a similar rating survey on about 50 of our local representatives. Try to answer honestly and not based on your party political preferences - that way we might end up with something useful!
UPDATE - as I haven’t forked out for the pay for account, there is a limit of 100 responses. About 2/3 done now.
UPDATE 2 - results below the fold. A sample of 100 is tiny. That with other factors means, don’t take too much from it. It’s not so much useful as interesting.
1. Where are you registered to vote (or, if not registered, where are you normally resident)
Not really important enough to bother publishing. Suffice to say, I’m pleased to see a good spread across Northern Ireland, slightly South and East Belfast heavy (those two being in the top three options in the drop down box. Conclusion - laziness).
2. How often do you read Slugger?
Looks a bit like a Russian Presidential election result
Several times a day 60.8%
Once a day 23.7%
13 or 4 times a week 13.4%
Once a week 2.1%
A few times a month 0%
Quite rarely 0%
3. Which party got your first preference vote in the 2007 Assembly elections?
First figure is the percentage, second is the raw number of respondents
DUP 15.8% 15
Sinn Fein 12.6% 12
UUP 13.7% 13
SDLP 12.6% 12
Alliance 12.6% 12
Independent 0.0% 0
Green 5.3% 5
UKUP 3.2% 3
PUP 2.1% 2
Conservative 2.1% 2
RSF 0.0% 0
SEA 0.0% 0
UKIP 0.0% 0
Other 3.2% 3
Did not vote/Don’t remember 16.8% 16
4. Please rate the performance of following Northern Ireland politicians since devolution in May 2007 on a scale of 1 to 10 where one is very poor and 10 is very good. Be honest and dispassionate!
Placed in rank order - based on 93 responses. I regret including John Barry, it was unfair. I think in certain instances, and he is one, people rated low owing to not having heard of them. That was a mistake on my part. Also this is quite DUP heavy and a little SDLP light.
Margaret Ritchie 7.43
Peter Robinson 6.67
Naomi Long 6.15
David Ford 5.99
Danny Kennedy 5.85
Martin McGuinness 5.71
Ian Paisley 5.54
Nigel Dodds 5.50
Sammy Wilson 5.42
Arlene Foster 5.38
Anna Lo 5.22
William Hay 5.17
Declan O’Loan 5.15
Basil McCrea 5.11
Michael McGimpsey 5.05
Mark Durkan 5.04
Sir Reg Empey 5.03
Jeffrey Donaldson 4.99
Alban Maginness 4.99
John Dallat 4.97
Conor Murphy 4.85
Michelle Gildernew 4.83
John McAllister 4.71
Alasdair McDonnell 4.67
Gregory Campbell 4.66
Tom Elliott 4.62
Fred Cobain 4.60
Stephen Farry 4.56
Lady Hermon 4.46
Alan McFarland 4.46
Alex Maskey 4.43
Eddie McGrady 4.38
Iris Robinson 4.37
Gerry Kelly 4.30
Alex Attwood 4.27
Barry McElduff 4.24
Brian Wilson 4.22
Dawn Purvis 4.21
Michelle McIlveen 4.10
Mitchel McLaughlin 3.99
David McClarty 3.95
Pat Doherty 3.93
David Simpson 3.90
Gerry Adams 3.89
Francie Molloy 3.87
Kieran Deeny 3.79
Edwin Poots 3.61
Jimmy Spratt 3.54
Paul Goggins 3.52
David Burnside 3.50
Shaun Woodward 3.49
Martina Anderson 3.41
Leslie Cree 3.38
John Barry 2.98
William McCrea 2.90
Caitriona Ruane 2.37
Ian Paisley Jnr 2.19
Right at the bottom are Paisley Jnr, Ruane and William McCrea. The raw numbers directly below are the percentage and then raw number of responses for each rank from 1 through 10 and don’t know on the far right. The conclusion (such as one can be arrived at from such a tiny sample) is that even their own party voters don’t rate their performances. Worth noting that 47 people ranked John Barry as don’t know. Just short of half.
Ian Paisley Jnr
58.9% (56) 15.8% (15) 8.4% (8) 2.1% (2) 5.3% (5) 2.1% (2) 2.1% (2) 2.1% (2) 0.0% (0) 2.1% (2) 1.1% (1)
Caitriona Ruane
54.7% (52) 10.5% (10) 7.4% (7) 10.5% (10) 4.2% (4) 3.2% (3) 2.1% (2) 1.1% (1) 2.1% (2) 1.1% (1) 3.2% (3)
William McCrea
26.3% (25) 15.8% (15) 16.8% (16) 11.6% (11) 9.5% (9) 6.3% (6) 1.1% (1) 0.0% (0) 1.1% (1) 0.0% (0) 11.6% (11)
5. If an election were held tomorrow, who would you vote for?
DUP 15.80% 15
Sinn Fein 12.60% 12
UUP 11.60% 11
SDLP 13.70% 13
Alliance 13.70% 13
Independent 1.10% 1
Green 5.30% 5
UKUP 0.00% 0
PUP 1.00% 1
Conservative 4.20% 4
RSF 0.00% 0
SEA 0.00% 0
UKIP 0.00% 0
Traditional Unionist Voice 6.30% 6
Other 5.30% 5
Would not vote 9.50% 9
6. How many Local Government districts do you think there should there be?
Personally, I reckon 1 was used as a “don’t know” option.
1 3.20% 3
7 35.80% 34
9 6.30% 6
11 25.30% 24
15 24.20% 23
26 5.30% 5
More than 26 0.00% 0
Michael Shilliday @ 03:58 PM
Try to answer honestly and not based on your party political preferences - that way we might end up with something useful!
I started the survey and the first question posed was where are you normally resident? You dont list the republic of Ireland/26 counties/the south or however you might wish to call it. Its a bit ridiculous that someone who lives 100 meters over the border on the souther side would have to mark themselves as Europe.
If the questions had been phrased honestly without showing your party preferences or bias then you would have ended up with somehting usedful. Funny that the survey invites people to be dispassionate when rating the representatives. Pity the same neutral point tof view wasn’t adapted by the survey.
Posted by on Mar 02, 2008 @ 04:51 PMA fair point. Corrected. Probably wont effect the results too much, seems to apply to very few of the small number of people who have answered thus far.
Apologies.
Posted by on Mar 02, 2008 @ 05:17 PMYou can accuse me of pedantry, but doesen’t ‘Europe’ include the whole of Ireland, even the wee (partial) province in the north east?
Posted by on Mar 02, 2008 @ 05:20 PMThanks, I completed the survey.
Posted by on Mar 02, 2008 @ 06:14 PMTried my best!
Posted by on Mar 02, 2008 @ 06:22 PMHave to say, very few of them jumped out as being anything other than average.
Posted by on Mar 02, 2008 @ 07:29 PMI have no interest in rating a load of english and scottish politicians with only one irish man. Put up a poll for Assembly members and ministers and you might get more interest.
Posted by on Mar 02, 2008 @ 07:35 PMYou mean like the one I put up at 3:58 with this thread?
Posted by on Mar 02, 2008 @ 07:41 PMApologies Michael, clicked too quick, I’ll contribute now
Posted by on Mar 02, 2008 @ 08:27 PMMichael,
You can tick one of the ‘other’ responses off as éirígí.
Posted by on Mar 02, 2008 @ 08:33 PMMichael,
btw: how much is the unlimited response questionnaire? I’m sure a few of us could chip into a PayPal account and cover the cost if you fancy doing the upgrade. You’d probably be able to get more than 100 responses.
Posted by on Mar 02, 2008 @ 08:44 PMThanks for the offer, but you’re alright!
I’ll be doing it at some point because I may be using it for some other purposes. When I do I might do this monthly. 100 responses is nowhere near enough, but there are some interesting things in the results thus far.
Posted by on Mar 02, 2008 @ 08:47 PMYou are going to make the data public? ‘Other purposes’ sounds a little strange. I wouldn’t have filled it in without expecting full disclosure of the results.
Posted by on Mar 02, 2008 @ 08:57 PMI meant I’ll be using the service for my own purposes. I’ll be disclosing the results of this as soon as there are 100 responses to every question. Currently at 76.
Posted by on Mar 02, 2008 @ 09:45 PMLet me guess the outcome…
Total dissatisfaction with SF…
The SDLP are GREEK GODS....
Totally representative survey of a site not representative of the political landscape…
Posted by on Mar 02, 2008 @ 09:57 PMTwinbrook,
I judged it honestly based on their profile and influence. I gave those I’d heard nothing from or of a low mark. I was surprised how easily Attwood and to a lesser extent Durkin fell into that category.
Some very non-descript figures on that list and to be honest Attwood was my main stand-out point - from somebody to nobody in a few steps but hardly a surprise as it was him and the bro that lead them into the valley of darkness so often.
I think my highest scores went to McG and Robbo and I’d vote for neither.
Hopefully readers set aside prejudice and gave honest answers, then it may be an interesting poll. If anyone gets tens you can discount those votes as party loyalists.
Posted by on Mar 02, 2008 @ 10:16 PMThere are some with lost of 1’s and a few 10’s all of the same party. Surprisingly few though.
Posted by on Mar 02, 2008 @ 10:26 PMIt’s really positive that we are getting to the point of seeing beyond someones political background to be able to judge the work they are doing dispassionately. I had no problem giving Peter Robison a good mark, as well as Arlene Foster. They may not represent my voting pattern, but I think they are doing good work. I would really like to see some part of the results when the survery is complete, I think it would be interesting stuff.
Posted by on Mar 02, 2008 @ 10:43 PMSorry to pour cold water on this initiative..
But with a self-selecting sample any results from this survey can only be regarded as being highly suspect.
Posted by on Mar 02, 2008 @ 10:51 PMWell of course. I don’t think anyone was suggesting this would be scientific or authoritative, merely interesting. And it is.
Posted by on Mar 02, 2008 @ 11:05 PMREMOVED - PLAY THE BALL
MODERATOR
Posted by on Mar 02, 2008 @ 11:14 PMPete - pour cold water? OK not that scientific or representative but heck look at the dross we get from Bel. Tel. etc.
They and proponents of 11+ keep brining up that postal ballot affair....how much effort from your ilk has gone into trashing that for all the well established resons?
Posted by on Mar 02, 2008 @ 11:16 PMJust done your survey, Michael. I think it’ll ultimately prove to be a useful exercise. If we should meet during the week, could I ask for a feedback of results? Genuinely interested!
Posted by on Mar 02, 2008 @ 11:19 PMMichael
Interesting it may be, but don’t put any value on those results.
“any survey”
Not having cited that particular survey I have no need to trash it.
And back to the actual topic..
Posted by on Mar 02, 2008 @ 11:21 PMI wont be putting MUCH value on the results. But if I felt they were of NO value, I’d not have bothered.
Posted by on Mar 02, 2008 @ 11:29 PM
