The Puerto Rican´s support to the Oversight Board (OB) shows a fall that is reflected in accounting for the 43% acceptance that this federal entity has among those interviewees in the most recent edition of El Nuevo Día Poll against 69 % of support it had in October last year.
The rejection towards the OB also increased by nine points, when comparing the 40% rejection it has now and the 31% it had in October 2016, when it was just beginning to perform its functions.
This difference of three percentage points, 43% and 40%, between those who are for and against, is just within the margin of error, which is plus or minus 3.1%. Therefore, it should be concluded that the feeling of support or rejection towards the OB is on a par at the time of the survey, which was conducted between 24th and 26th May 2017 among 1,000 people eligible to vote.
Another 15% say that they are neither in favor nor against the OB, which is a feeling that had not shown in previous surveys. The remaining 2% declined to answer.
The division in the current feeling about the OB is evident between men and women alike and in all age groups except for adults aged 45 to 64 years, in which support –with 48%- dominates the rejection -with 38%-. This difference is outside the sampling error of that subgroup, plus or minus 5.5%.
Support to the OB is also statistically higher than the rejection among participants with annual family income of $ 25,000 or higher, by a margin of 48% to 38%, respectively. The sampling error in this subgroup is plus or minus 6.5%.
But the divisions in feeling about the OB are sharper according to political affiliation.
For example, in the case of New Progressive Party members, 58% show support towards the Board, 29% are "against" and 12% "neither for nor against."
However, among members of the Popular Democratic Party and minority parties or independent candidates in the 2016 elections, 57% show their rejection towards the OB. Among non-affiliates, the feeling is more divided: 30% say they are "in favor", 40% note they are "against" and 29% answer neither of the two.
Today, only 7% say they "know a lot" about the OB, while another 14% report they "know quite enough". A majority of 68% say that they "know little" about this fiscal entity and the remaining 11% that they actually "know nothing”
Regardless of the level of knowledge reported on the OB, all participants of the Poll were presented with a factual description of the Board, its membership and responsibilities.
After reading this description, 81% said they did remember what it was, compared to 19% who did not remember.