By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

A POLL conducted by a new American political research company has found that most Free National Movement supporters would choose Loretta Butler-Turner as leader of the party over Dr Hubert Minnis.

The results of the poll, undertaken by RABA Research, “a bipartisan group of political professionals who have worked for candidates, issues, organisations and corporations across the globe”, were released on Wednesday.

The company said 350 FNM “voters" were contacted via phone between May 9 and June 17 of this year. The poll showed “that they overwhelmingly prefer a leadership team selected by Loretta Butler-Turner (36 per cent) as opposed to Hubert Minnis (17 per cent) or Brent Symonette (22 per cent).”

David Kochel, a partner in RABA (which stands for Red America, Blue America) explained that when the poll was taken, all respondents were delegates. "There has been a shift in the who is a delegate, so we have decided to describe them as likely voters,” he told The Tribune.

It is unclear how many of those delegates surveyed were on the final voters’ list for this week’s convention.

“The RABA Research survey finds widespread dissatisfaction with the current state of the FNM,” the company said. “When asked to describe the FNM, 54 per cent of delegates (190 out of the 350 surveyed) agreed with a statement that said: ‘The FNM is a mess. It needs a new leader as soon as possible if it is going to win.’

“Only 31 per cent of delegates were satisfied with the current state of the FNM, while 14 per cent did not have an opinion. Particularly noteworthy was self-identified party preference. When asked which party would they choose if the election were held today, 39 per cent either did not know or refused to give an answer. For nearly two in five members of the party faithful to be uncertain about which party to support is deeply problematic for FNM, and demonstrates how unhappy they are with the state of their party.”

It is not clear what prompted the group to conduct a poll about Bahamian politics or who financed the survey. The poll’s margin of error was not given.

The poll comes as FNM delegates vote on Friday night to determine whether Dr Minnis will remain leader of the party or be replaced with Mrs Butler-Turner his former deputy.