New polling data shows entrenched voter disenchantment with both political parties and the Premier as voter attitudes harden in the lead up to the next general election.The latest survey results indicate a 10-point increase — to 45 percent — in the proportion of registered voters who disapprove of Paula Cox’s performance as Bermuda’s Premier, and continuing strong disapproval of the ruling Progressive Labour Party’s performance as a whole.Among registered voters overall, 49 percent take a dim view of the ruling party’s performance, compared with 36 percent who do not approve of the Opposition party’s performance.In May the figures were 51 percent and 33 percent respectively.About half of the black voting population do not approve of the performance of the Opposition One Bermuda Alliance, the results show.The ruling party is not discouraged.“These are difficult economic times for countries all around the world. Leaders like Paula Cox and the PLP team are making some tough calls to ensure that our debt to GDP ratio remains lower than that of the United States, the United Kingdom and virtually every other developed country in our hemisphere while simultaneously standing strong for Bermudians by protecting social programmes and jobs,” reads a statement from the PLP.“When you make tough calls in difficult times, not everyone is going to approve. But, it’s a sign of resolute leadership when you put standing strong for Bermudians over political polls.”Respondents were asked to rank performance on a one to five scale — with a score of one signifying that they “strongly disapprove” and a five indicating strong approval.Scores of one and two are combined as disapproval and four and five are reported as approval.Just 25 percent of respondents said they approve of Ms Cox’s performance, a figure which has held steady for the last four months even as more voters settle on their voting choices.As reported last week, only 13 percent of voters are indicating that they are undecided about — or refuse to say — how they will cast their vote in the next election, down from 32 percent in May.While there were no significant gender differences in the performance evaluations, with both male and female respondents matching the overall percentages, racial differences are apparent in the survey results.Among whites, 69 percent disapproved of Ms Cox’s performance as Premier, and 80 percent disapproved of the performance of the party she leads.Only six percent of white respondents approved of the Premier’s performance and another 25 percent ranked her in the middle range.Thirty-eight percent of black voters indicated approval of the Premier’s performance, while 30 percent said they did not approve, and 33 percent ranked her in the middle range, neither approving nor disapproving.The Premier’s low overall performance approval rating is somewhat echoed in the respondents’ appraisal of her party’s performance since the last election.Approval of the ruling party’s performance has, however, hardened a little — by a seven-point increase to 22 percent, while those who say they disapprove of its performance remains at around 50 percent.Twenty-eight percent of respondents overall ranked the PLP’s performance a three — neither approving or disapproving.The One Bermuda Alliance is doing marginally better, according to those surveyed, 26 percent of whom said they approved of that party’s performance since its inception — a nine-point increase. But 36 percent of the respondents disapprove of the performance of the Official Opposition. Thirty percent ranked the OBA’s performance in the middle of the range — indicating neither approval nor disapproval.Broken down by race, blacks (31 percent) were more likely to approve of the PLP’s performance, as compared to eight percent of whites. But 29 percent of blacks disapproved of the PLP’s performance, compared to 80 percent of whites. A strong proportion of blacks (38 percent) ranked the ruling party’s performance in the middle range — indicating neither approval nor disapproval. Among whites that proportion was 12 percent.Whites were more likely to approve of the OBA’s performance. Forty six percent of white respondents said they approved of the performance of the Official Opposition, compared to nine percent of blacks who felt the same way.Among black voters, 47 percent said they disapproved of the OBA’s performance, 28 percent ranked the party in the middle range and 15 percent said they did not know where to rank the OBA on the performance scale.But 18 percent of white respondents said they did not approve of the OBA’s performance, four percent reported that they did not know, and 32 percent ranked the Opposition party in the middle range, neither approving or disapproving.MindMaps interviewed a sample of 400 Bermuda residents aged 18 years and over between September 11 and 16.Qualified respondents were registered voters who said they were likely to vote and the margin of error was +/- 4.9 percent.The data was weighted to be representative of Bermuda’s population by age, race and gender.The OBA did not respond to a request for comment.But the PLP statement noted a “different approach” being taken by the OBA.“They’ve chosen not to tell us the tough calls they are going to make. They’re promising the world, but not telling anyone how they’re going to deliver. That’s why they remain the party of no ideas and no solutions,” the ruling party said of the Official Opposition.