Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) candidates in the September 3 General Election appear to be outworking their People’s National Party (PNP) counterparts on the ground as both parties campaign to form the next Government.

That is the finding of the latest survey conducted August 21-23 by veteran pollster Bill Johnson for the Jamaica Observer.

According to Johnson, “65 per cent of respondents have seen or met their JLP Member of Parliament within the last month, compared to 56 per cent who have seen or met their PNP Member of Parliament during the same period”.

The poll also found that 33 per cent of respondents have seen or met the JLP challenger in PNP constituencies, compared to 28 per cent who have seen or met the PNP challenger in JLP constituencies.

“This is particularly significant since the PNP has strategically decided to run individual constituency campaigns, instead of one national campaign,” Johnson stated in his analysis of the data collated from interviews of 1,000 voting-age Jamaicans islandwide.

The poll has a sampling error of plus or minus three per cent and comes on the heels of two others conducted July 9-12 and March 12-5, each among 1,200 Jamaicans. Those polls each have a sampling error of plus or minus 2.5 per cent.

Earlier this month, PNP election campaign co-director Peter Bunting had told Top of the Morning host Richard “Richie B” Burgess on The Edge 105 FM — the Jamaica Observer’s sister radio station — that the party would be concentrating on a seat by seat strategy to win the election.

“This campaign is going to be one where candidates individual constituency candidates, have a much greater impact than we have seen in the past,” Bunting said.

The move is a pull away from the strategy used in the February 2016 General Election when the party relied heavily on the popularity of then President Portia Simpson Miller to attract voters.

TOMORROW: The party standings