Poll: 57% Support Granting PRC Holders Status
57% support granting status to PRC holders, 33% oppose, and 9% do not know – according to a poll conducted by Global Research & Strategy Group Ltd.
The telephone poll was conducted between July 12th and July 19th with a representative sample of 404 registered Bermuda voters, with the poll having a margin of error of +/- 4.9%].
Charts extracted from the report:
Yesterday, Home Affairs Minister Michael Fahy said that the Ministry is withdrawing the appeal in the PRC status matter and “the avenue to Bermuda status for certain PRC holders that was created by the previous government in 2001 will stand.”
The Minister said that immigration records indicate that 1,455 PRCs are potentially eligible for status, and while they not know exactly how many children of these PRC holders are eligible for status, they “believe the number is minimal – possibly a few hundred.”
The Opposition has raised objections to this, as has Citizens Uprooting Racism in Bermuda [CURB], while the People’s Campaign and Bermuda Trade Union Congress have called for people to join them tomorrow [July 25] for a protest march over the matter.
The full poll report follows below [PDF here]
Who owns and or operates Global.
It’s “nice and everything” that most people see the justice in granting status to our PRC’s…..but even if they didn’t it wouldn’t change anything. Human rights are human rights. Just imagine where America would be today if nothing got done without a referendum. First, there would be NO civil rights.
Glad to see that most favour doing the right thing.
Poll of 500 OBA SUPPORTERS is hardly conclusive
Do gaming and PRC questions by referendum and see if you get 57% support
Like really?
If you read it was a random poll (i.e., not restricted to OBA supporters) and the sample size was actually quite large.
http://www.surveysystem.com/sscalc.htm
provides a sample size calculator – since the article gives the margin of error you can determine how many people had to be polled.
It was a random poll but you do know randomly you could poll 400 oba supporters right?? Sorry folk but there is no way that a poll of 230 supporters should influence a decision like this! OBA,you are undermining the power of the PEOPLE who VOTED YOU IN and remember NONE OF US ARE PRC HOLDERS!!Enjoy your SHORT, UNPRODUCTIVE, time in Government.
BTW I do support Citizenship for for SOME PRC holders but it has to go through the proper process.No expat is entitled to Citizenship! And you were well aware of that when you received your PRC. Please don’t act like you are being displaced because a lot of Born Bermudians are feeling the same way in their own country.
There already is a “proper process”. It’s according to the law passed by the PLP.
So what do you think about the expat Tweed shoving his nose into Bermuda politics and threatening the democraticallyelected government? Shouldn’t we Bermudians tell him to eff off?
Learn some basic math. Just because you don’t like the answer doesn’t mean it’s wrong. Only that you don’t like it.
A sample of 400 people does provide an accurate representation of public opinion. This was basically a yes/no question so calculating the statistical significance is pretty straightforward (the theory and mechanics should be covered in any first year statistics course).
BTW, that’s why the report includes a confidence interval.
Oh i think really.
Just like last weeks march of 1000 (definitely not 2500) at Govt House is a clear majority to support the PLPs cause right? I hardly think so OG! The PLP and all the groups that are against this are flaming the fire of the older generation who just cannot accept change! But guess what happens when you get old?
The same poll that said the PLP would win an election if called …..
What was surprising mostly to me was the percentages of people who got the true or false questions wrong, it speaks quite a bit about the misinformation put out there.
to the plp this will obviously be a rigged survey probably conducted by whites for whites against them.Yet again they can’t admit their own inadequate term in office, did they not originate the original bill with the LOOP HOLE. We are so above ourselves in our eyes the world owes us I guess.
So, even if they get 20,000 marchers tomorrow they are still a minority!
Exactly.logO
This is Bull S—- at de highest level, you take a poll of 400 selected people and they promised a Referendum, get these worthless bums out !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yet a poll of 400 people where the PLP are said to be ahead of the OBA you are all for right? Bermuda is a tiny place. A poll of 400 people it typical of the population.
Do us all a favour and put away your green shirt mate!
If you read it was a random poll (i.e., not restricted to OBA supporters) and the sample size was actually quite large.
http://www.surveysystem.com/sscalc.htm
provides a sample size calculator – since the article gives the margin of error you can determine how many people had to be polled.
Amazing – people turning a thumbs down on basic mathematics (the derivation of that calculator should be covered in any first year statistics course).
Appears as though most real Bermudians have spoken by almost 2 to 1 in favour of granting long term residents status. But the PLP won’t let facts get in the way of their politics of opportunism and social destruction.
PLP – betraying real Bermudians since 1998.
They only asked a group of 404.
And Cordell Riley only asked a group of 375 in his most recent survey.
It called a “representative sample.”
And they published the margin of error.
You do understand that, don’t you?
That’s irrelevant. This was a scientifically conducted poll that is designed to gauge broad public opinion.
404 is a fairly good sample size, error margin approx 3% either way. Also, quite clearly the Cabinet must have seen polls with similar support before Fahy announced his decision.
Scotland are voting in September to become independent from the UK. As a Scot living overseas I can’t vote. Anyone living in Scotland can vote….English, Irish, European, American. People living and working and contributing to a community should have a say.
Why do we keep hearing that PRC holders have lived here for 25 years? That’s the minimum, many have lived and worked in Bermuda for 30-40-50 years. And many have already retired.
If there are 60,000 people on the island and 57% are in favour of granting status to PRCs, and 33% are opposed, then even if 20,000 people were to march tomorrow, it doesn’t alter those numbers, it is still a minority that are opposed!
the plp are just grasping at anything they can to try to bolster their flagging numbers of followers,they know their days are over.All they have done is make themselves more hated by many more people.
Like every group trying to deny people human rights the PLP are on the wrong side of history.
My daughter lost her job to a guest worker’s daughter no a prc, Bermuda watch out for Expatriates’ children. Our kids won’t find jobs in the future. prcs are not the problem.
She should have worked harder and got a better education. I’m sick and tired of employers mollycoddling ignorant people who think the world owes them a living. It is this sense of false entitlement that has been our undoing.
That makes zero sense. Unless the guest worker’s daughter is a PRC the law says that the company must hire a Bermudian first. Either that daughter is a PRC and you just don’t realize it or there is something else going on and the company doesn’t want to employ your daughter.
Only in Government jobs does a Bermudian take precedence over a PRC.
They are talking about a guest worker not a PRC.
LOL
Which is why the claim doesn’t make sense. Either the guest worker is really a PRC (and the poster simply doesn’t know it) or there is something else going on and his daughter was let go for a reason.
Paid PLP bloggers over at Alaska Hall trying to plead to the soft hearted!
I would like more details on this story.
Based on my own estimate I doubt if there are more than 500 PRC eligible under the present law, let alone will seek status. Many have left Bermuda, died, retired, don’t want it because they will have to seek BOTC status first or, and this may be sacrilege, plain don’t want status and are happy with PRC.
Once again the PLP are inflating numbers while the OBA are down playing them.SHM. went from 2000 original number to the OBAs 1500 to the PLPs 6000 someone is lying again why is it politicians feel they can just lie to the public on every matter.
LOL
Has anybody provided information on what stipulations are tied to PRC…will clarify a lot of speculation…how many people will be eligible…the numbers don’t lie..nobody is saying they can’t have them…lot of unanswered questions…in my opinion.
Government has supplied the numbers – read the original statement.
Requirements are pretty straightforward. Under 31A (which is the category that is eligible for Status). Arrived here before mid 1989 and have lived here continuously for 20 years after that (and provide references to confirm that). Minimum age of 45 IIRC. Be of good character – multiple personal references including ones by “professional persons”, two Bermudian sponsors. [Applications had to be received before mid 2010.]
Once the application had been reviewed by Immigration the applicant’s name and address was published in the Sun in order to allow the public to object. If no objections off to the races.
Note that this section has since been repealed (wouldn’t really matter because of the cut-off date).
This members of that group are the only ones that are affected by the Supreme Court ruling. As government stated, there are only about 1,400 of them and, having talked to a number of people in that category, a lot of them have no interest in Status for a variety of reasons (left the island, retired, have a job and/or home so why bother and so forth) so at a guess there will be a maximum of a few hundred who do apply.
There is a second category of PRC (who are not eligible for status) that applies to spouses, siblings, and children of those that qualified under 31A. Section 31B says that if the individual is at least 18 and has lived on the island continuously for a minimum of 10 years they can also become a PRC but they cannot pass this on to spouses or children.
The PLP trying to cause disruption in their quest for power.
You know what PLP/BIU/PC, KEEP DOING WHAT YOU DOING AND TURN EVEN MORE PEOPLE AGAINST YOU , LOVE IT !!
Dr Brown brings in prisoners straight from Guantanamo Bay in the middle of the night and the people who marched in protest got called a lynch mob. The OBA gives status to people who have lived and contributed to Bermuda for over 25 years and people march. What do we call these marchers? A hypocrite mob?
A lynch mob. Go figure. Shows how screwed up some folks heads are.
However the poll results are reassuring that reason will prevail.
Brown also called 37% of the population Plantation Owners. After giving a lifetime to building this country, I felt terrible the night he said that.
Dr Brown brought this US style Politics with him sham he did not take it back when he left.
LOL
like I told Ma…she ain’t gonna be satisfied until her 2 govt. pension checks don’t show up….
Sorry I thought ma was RIP, the check stopped a long time ago.
So tired of haters. I guess people are still getting paid write stuff that can’t help this country.
Yeah, the PLP heirs of “Bud” and “Rocksolid” are still out every day strategically replying to the first comment.
These PLP supporters act like they don’t know about “rocksolid” from Progrssive Minds a site owned by the then chairman of the party.
LOL
PLP should have courted these future voters. Now they’ve alienated them forever – plus their friends.
This is the biggest PR nightmare in PLP’s history and they know it – and it is entirely their own fault.
PLP has proved yet again that they are unfit to run a bath – let alone a country.
I’m sure they’ll try to blame race or racism. Its all they really know how to do.
I’m a Bermudian born and raised in Bermuda by one Bermudian parent and one that’s a PRC after being here 30 years.. My father and stepmum (both PRC) have also raised my half siblings in Bermuda. Why shouldn’t they be able to vote in a country which we all call home? They’ve contributed to society, and have happily worked for, or along side Bermudians. Why should I get the rights to vote when they don’t – and they’ve lived here longer then I’ve been alive?
because they can go home and vote, simple.
they were invited guest workers and slipped thru the cracks and overstayed and overstayed and overstayed some more. they were granted prc which icing on the cake now they want the entire friggin bakery?
with icing on the cake
Are you Bermudian?
LMAO2, Your missing a little bit (a lot?) of history. Reality is that prior to mid 1989 if someone came to Bermuda there was a procedure in place where, after a time, they could apply for status. That’s actually the reason for the 1989 cutoff date in the original PRC legislation – anyone arriving before that had a reasonable expectation that, if they wanted to they could apply for (and receive) status.
This is the only group that the court ruling applies to.
They were granted the right in a law passed by the elected PLP government of Bermuda.
It’s called democracy.
Torn, at the end of the day, is that really the primary concern of your parents – voting? Or has it been raising a family and holding down jobs? Have they not been free to live, seek work and buy property here?
Yes, the right to vote is a wonderful thing – the right of being able to stand in a closed booth for less than five minutes, once every five years. The right to use your voice – and have the Government of the day turn around and do exactly what it wants anyway.
Many people value that right, and that’s okay – but my point is, has the absence of this right diminished the quality of life of any PRC during their time in Bermuda? I would think not – if so, none of them would have remained here for so many years.
Furthermore, do you you think it is fair that your parents have the right to status and the right to vote when there are long term residents who have been in Bermuda since AFTER July 1989 in the same situation as your parents, who will not have that right? Is it fair that someone here since August 1989 is shut out from status? If this is not fair, what do you think Government should do about it – and would that solution be sustainable for Bermuda’s future?
The absence is when you tax people and do not give them a right to vote about such matters, as well as others that pertain to their life and livelihood you are denying them rights. If you do not wish these people to have a right to vote, then do not tax them. Do not take their money that they work to make, then you might have a right to say go home.
However, they are being taxed without representation. That was the basis of the American Revolution, “Taxation without Representation”.
I have American Citizenship, and I am Bermudian, I am afforded all the rights of an American Citizen barring some that involve politcal offices I am allowed to hold.
The other issue here, now that the PLP have brought this up… is allt he babies born here that are not given Citizenship unless they apply for it at 18. If you give birth to a child in the United States that child is American,”All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and the States wherein they reside.” This can be referred to as the citizenship clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Here, they are of no nation until their parents do paperwork for their own home country. If the PLP are going to call something a Birth Right, that means that ALL persons BORN on the Island of Bermuda MUST then be given their Birth Right…. Status/Citizenship with ALL that comes with it, freely without application.
@ Portia: did you really just try to minimize the importance of being able to vote?
Happens in every other country from Canada to the UK
LOL
Fantastic questions, no easy answers. I am a PRC holder and have no interest in gaining status. Firstly, I couldn’t afford to live here after retirement, and secondly I know I would never be completely accepted-will always be regarded as expat . But I understand completely how difficult it is to solve this issue. Doesn’t make it any easier to swallow the viciousness spewing from ” friends and neighbors”
Ya right, I don’t believe that poll.
Already judging from the internal shanagans within the OBA a large percentage of Bermudiians believe that they came into power
with several hidden agenders and unfinished business of the UBP by using the promise of rebuilding the economy as a base.
There is a belief that about 50% of Bermudians have a bad feeling that 80% these long term non Bermudian residents are aleady pro OBA and don’t favor Bermudians. – especialy Black Bermudians.
Many Bermudians believe that this whole mattter is so that the OBA can gain Votes.— as I spend a lot of time around
both Races of People in Bermuda and I travel daily from end to end I hear a lot of Political comments.
So far the OBA have gone off the assigned path of building the ecconomy and gotten deep into themselves and other matters
and far as I’m concerned the PLP is no help either—- hey OBA and PLP there still is a big unemployment problem – how about
working on that!.– you don’t hear nothing about paying off the National Debt either! —- exactly what the H….. is going on!
Hidden agendas…. Dr. B… Quighers…. Us Citizenship reinstated???
Don’t favor Bermudians…… are you reading and listening to the same news I am…. I am Bermudian and I am not favoring my own people right now. On the attack against people who have helped make this country what it is (or was).
Whatever the result of the poll is irrelevant. The law is the law.
You don’t have a poll every time you disagree with a law!
Let me lay it out for you in steps for people to comprehend.
1. These people have been living here for over 10-25+ years.
2. They already have jobs.
3. They already have houses.
4. THE ONLY THING THAT CHANGES IS THAT THEY GET TO VOTE.
WHAT ARE YOU SO SCARED OF PLP?!?! LMFAO maybe you should be praising these people now they got status instead of scaring them away. REAL TALK. These points above are the only ones you should see as truth, which they are. STOP BEING BRAINWASHED BY THE PLP!!! THESE “NEW” PEOPLE WILL ONLY BE VOTING, THEY HAVE EVERYTHING ELSE. PLP JUST SCARED THEY WILL LOSE AGAIN!!!
Give ALL these people what they legally deserve…. The “people” of the Island have spoken!!!! Time for the politico’s to get their A** in gear!!!
CASE CLOSED!!!
Most people are probably just concerned that once all these prc’s get status they will start going sick as they will have all those extra sick days that you get as a Bermudians!
Had anyone given consideration to the fact that the PRC holders have been paying their share of TAXES all of these years? They have been contributing financially, emotionally and physically to Bermuda. With all of the urgent issues facing Bermuda right now it is truly mind numbing that we are falling for this distraction – all for the sake of political expediency. Please people, stop letting yourselves be used and just THINK THROUGH what you are being fed.
Lynne Winfield of CURB got status,and now wants nobody else to have it.
Remarkable support in light of the overwhelming negative propaganda and emotional distortion to manipulate Bermudian feelings. The 50 year old debate still goes on without proper solution now with the PLP incitement boiling over into a dangerous phase for the island.
no taxation without representation- the Boston tea party-The Battle of York-Town Where a Continental American army defeat the British bringing to life the declaration of independence that had being declared in 1776; thus the world witness the birth of a Nation; The United States of America and from than on the citizens of that new nation were known as Americans. A declaration of independence; a war for independence; An independent nation wrought by blood; sweat and tears not a loop-hole and not a remaining British Overseas territory?
Assuming this is still a democracy, if you are unhappy with the effect of the ruling then change the law, if not, or you do not have a majority required to do so through parliamentary means, then abide by the law.
What’s the fuss? Failing that you look like a banana republic lead by potheads.