Premier Ewart Brown's popularity has sunk to an all-time low and half the Country strongly hope he sticks to his word and quits this October.

Dr. Brown's favourability has slumped to 24 percent in this month's Research.bm poll, lower than his previous worst score of 27 percent at the height of the Uighurs affair last June. Fifty-two percent of people have an unfavourable opinion of the Premier.

And 61 percent of voters said they want him to stand down when his four-year term as leader of the Progressive Labour Party ends in nine months, with 26 percent hoping he stays.

Opposition to Dr. Brown is strongest among whites, but blacks wanting him to leave outnumber the blacks wanting him to stay, according to the poll.

Meanwhile United Bermuda Party leader Kim Swan's popularity has climbed to 26 percent up from 19 percent last October following his leadership victory over Shadow Finance Minister Bob Richards.

Deputy Premier Paula Cox, the favourite to succeed Dr. Brown, continues to enjoy popularity, although her rating has fallen from 70 percent to 67 percent. Deputy UBP<\p>Leader Trevor Moniz drops one percentage point to 27 percent.

The Premier's performance approval rating has also fallen in the past three months, with 25 percent of people saying they think he's doing a good job, down from 27 percent.

Dr. Brown has repeatedly stated he will step down this October, but some Brownites have launched a flyer campaign asking him to stay on.

[JUMP]Research.bm's poll asked voters whether they agreed with the statement: "Dr. Brown should retain his post after October 2010."

The response which got by the far most votes, 48 percent, was "strongly disagree". Thirteen percent said "disagree", ten percent "agree", and 16 percent "strongly agree". Ten percent had no opinion either way and a further two percent didn't know what their opinion was.

Among whites, 11 percent want him to stay and 85 percent want him out. Among blacks, 37 percent want him to stay and 46 percent want him out.

A breakdown on age shows the youngest generation are most hopeful he goes, with 70 percent of people in the 18-24 age bracket wanting him out. That figure drops to 53 percent for the 25-34 age bracket.

Anti-Dr. Brown sentiment appeared to reach a peak last summer, when three public demonstrations against his leadership took place after he brought four<\p>former Guantánamo Bay prisoners to the Island without permission from the UK or consultation with Cabinet except Public Safety Minister David Burch.

He was publicly criticised by senior party colleagues Dale Butler, Terry Lister and Elvin James, with all three leaving Cabinet, although Mr. James later returned. At that time, Dr. Brown's favourability fell to 27 percent.

However, Dr. Brown's support from the public improved later in the year, and his rating reached 32 percent in a poll last October.

The telephone poll of 432 residents took place from January 6 to January 9 and has a 4.9 percent margin of error.

The PLP, United Bermuda Party and Bermuda Democratic Alliance all declined to comment yesterday.