The One Bermuda Alliance is hanging on to its narrow lead over the Progressive Labour Party, according to a poll commissioned by The Royal Gazette.

The OBA has a 38-36 lead over the PLP in the survey by Global Research this month, compared with the 39-38 advantage it held in our last poll in March.

More than a quarter of people — 26 per cent — chose to back neither party.

Michael Dunkley and Bob Richards, the leader and deputy leader of the OBA, both saw their performance approval ratings improve, with PLP leader Marc Bean recording a slight drop and his deputy David Burt remaining unchanged.

The telephone survey of 402 registered voters took place between June 6 and June 13 and has a margin of error of +/- 5 per cent.

A breakdown of the results by race shows that while both parties are continuing to garner support from their traditional bases, the OBA’s popularity among whites and the PLP’s among blacks has declined.

Among whites, 87 per cent said they would support the ruling party, down from 89 per cent, with an unchanged 2 per cent opting for the PLP.

Among blacks, an unchanged 13 per cent said they support the OBA, with 53 per cent voting PLP, down from 58 per cent in March and 64 per cent last December.

The OBA still has the male vote and the PLP has the female vote. Among men, 44 per cent chose OBA with 32 per cent picking PLP; among women, 32 per cent said OBA and 40 per cent said PLP.

The OBA has a performance approval rating of 23 per cent, compared with the PLP’s performance approval rating of 21 per cent.

Mr Dunkley, the Premier, has a performance approval rating of 40 per cent, up from 35 per cent three months ago, but still lower than his 48 per cent score from last December.

He wins approval from 68 per cent of whites and 24 per cent of blacks and is most appreciated by the older generation, with 51 per cent backing from people between the ages of 55 and 64, and 49 per cent from the over-65s.

Mr Bean, the Leader of the Opposition, who has been on a medical leave of absence since March, has a performance approval rating of 22 per cent, down from 24 per cent in March.

Mr Bean is backed by 32 per cent of blacks and 3 per cent of whites.

Mr Richards, the finance minister, has recovered some of the ground he lost shortly after his Budget speech in February.

His performance approval rating is 23 per cent, up from 19 per cent. His rating among whites is 51 per cent, and among blacks is 9 per cent.

Mr Burt, the Shadow Minister of Finance, who has been Acting Leader of the Opposition in Mr Bean’s absence, retains his performance approval rating of 32 per cent.

His rating among blacks is 50 per cent and among whites is 2 per cent.

The four politicians were also given favourability ratings to reflect their general popularity among voters.

Mr Dunkley scored 42 per cent, Mr Bean 25 per cent, Mr Richards 27 per cent and Mr Burt 36 per cent.