As we told you at the top of the news, a political poll was conducted in Dangriga by retired UB professor Dr. Philip Castillo. It scored leading area politicians based on their approval rating ahead of the government's one-year anniversary of term two.
The in-person survey sampled 110 voters from the Dangriga constituency using the voters list and random selection methods. Results suggest Dangriga Mayor Robert Mariano holds roughly 48 percent approval, while Area Representative Dr. Louis Zabaneh stands near 41 percent, here's why:
Dr. Phillip Castillo, Retired Professor
"Well, focusing first on the mayor, the mayor was first elected in 2021 and he won again in 2024. Elected in 2021, he got 50.7 percent of the votes. In 2024, I think he got 61 point something percent. The poll found that he's, his approval rating has fallen to just about 48 point something percent. So basically he's underwater. But then because the margin of error is about six percent, that means then that his actual support could be 48 plus six or 48 minus six. And then if you look at the mayor specifically, if you look at the mayor specifically, the 17 percent said that they're not sure. Which means then that that 17 percent could go anywhere, could go anywhere basically for him or against him. And then moving on from the mayor to the area rep. The area rep first won in 2020 with about, I think it was 61 percent of the votes, I think. He repeated 2025 with 76 percent, I think. But in 2025, if you recall, the UDP was having their internal civil war, basically. And so no UDP person was on the ballot. So the area representative's victory in 2025 has to be seen as an outlier. What the poll found is that his approval rating is in the lower 40s."
"I think it's 41 percent. So he has work to do. Looking at the prime minister, his approval rating is substantially down. I think it's about 20 something percent. But whereas there is data, you could benchmark the mayor and the area rep. There is no such data to benchmark the prime minister to the best of my knowledge. This is the first such poll being done asking the approval rating of the prime minister anywhere in the country. There is no such poll that has been done to the best of my knowledge. And then regarding Miss Earth-Lopez, well, I simply asked people what they think of her to give me one word to describe her. And the words were there."
Castillo says future polls will depend on funding, with plans to expand to a nationwide survey if resources allow.
