President Jonathan’s Performance Rating Down By 10 Points in December

Monthly governance poll results released by NOIPolls Limited, on Tuesday, for the month of December 2013, has revealed that 4 in 10 Nigerians (40%) approve of the President’s performance over the past month.

This latest result represents a 10-point decline in the proportion of Nigerians that approve of the President’s performance from November (50%) and, the lowest approval rating for the President in 2013.

The findings, according to the NOIPolls further revealed that 25% of Nigerians rate the performance of the current administration (the Executive Cabinet; Ministers and State Governors) as good; representing a 5-Point decline from the November (30%) rating. In addition, the poll result revealed a slight improvement in the situation of power supply as the proportion of Nigerians that experienced some improvement increased by 8-points from November (26%) to December (34%) 2013. These were the key findings from the Governance Snap Poll conducted in week of December 16, 2013.

The results presented are the twelfth in the monthly series of governance polls and concluding poll for 2013 conducted by NOIPolls to gauge the opinions and perceptions of Nigerians regarding three crucial elements – the approval rating of the president, the performance of the current administration, and the situation of power supply in the country.

Respondents to the poll were asked three specific questions. The first was to gauge the perception of Nigerians about the performance of President Goodluck Jonathan over the past 1 month; respondents were asked: Do you approve or disapprove of the performance of President Jonathan in the past 1 month?

The results revealed that 40% of Nigerians approve of the Presidents performance over the past month.

Comparatively, 29% of the adult population respondents disapprove of the President’s performance; while 31% were neutral in rating the President’s performance as they neither approve nor disapprove of his performance.

These figures represent a significant 10-point decline in the President’s approval rating from November (50%), and a 7-point increase in the proportion that disapprove of the President’s performance from November (22%).  

Further analyses based on geo-political zones indicate that the South-East zone (58%) had the highest proportion of respondents that approve of the President’s performance.

On the contrary, the North-West (40%), North-East (38%) and South-West (35%) zones had the highest proportion of respondents that disapprove of the President’s performance.

The highest proportion of respondents that were neutral towards the president’s performance were from the South-South and South-West zones (35% each).

Evaluating the President’s rating over the year 2013 reveals that the President obtained the highest approval ratings for his performance in August (57%), followed by October (55%) and February (54%).

On the other hand, the President received the lowest approval ratings in the months of December (40%) and April (42%) 2013.

Furthermore, analyses using quarterly averages reveal that the 3rd quarter of 2013 with an average of 53% was the President’s best quarter in terms of approval ratings; while the 2nd quarter with an average of 43% was the worst quarter in terms of the President’s approval rating. The year round average approval rating in 2013 was 49%.

Trend analysis of the performance of the current administration in 2013, shows a 5-point decline in the proportion of Nigerians that approve of the performance of the current administration from November (30%) to December (25%). Comparable to the President’s approval rating, the current administration also received its highest approval rating in August (35%); while its lowest rating was in April (16%).