Merdeka Center: The lowest 61% for Pak Lah and continues to go down …
Saturday, January 26th, 2008 | 3:05 pm @ SK
While Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in Davos talking about snap election in an interview on CNN’s World News Asia, he might want to give a little bit of more serious consideration towards the latest poll revealed by the market research Merdeka Center.
As a result of voters who’re unhappy over rising prices, racial tensions and crime, PM approval rating plunges to all time low - 61% in December 2007, down by 10% from November, which is the lowest since he took over the premiership in 2004.
The centre, which randomly polled 1,026 voters by phone, found that their main concerns were the rising cost of living, followed by race issues and rising street crime. Among the key findings are:
- Inflation and crime remain top issues of concern but dissatisfaction over treatment by government has come to the fore, especially among ethnic Indians.
- Concerns over the economy remain high with sentiments mixed over prices, jobs and business opportunities. Economic optimism for 2008 shows some decline, Malay voters remain positive but less upbeat.
- Confidence in the government in running the economy remains high among Malays but very low among Chinese.
- Approval rating of the Prime Minister has decreased from 71% to 61%.
- Overall, voters still see things as headed in the right direction in the country but context has significantly changed over the past month.
- Indian voters sentiments have turned visibly more negative but non-Indian sentiments have improved probably due to calm after the recent spate of demonstrations and police action.
However, the chart that strike me the most is on how the BERSIH and HINDRAF really affected Pak Lah’s approval rating across races, notably among ethnic Indians, where the PM suffers a drop of over 30 points in a month.
(SOURCE: Merdeka Center - National Poll - Dec 2007)
Nevertheless, Pak Lah rubbished aside the possible involvement of PKR advisor Anwar Ibrahim as the factor for the imminent GE, but really, if there is any fear, the above chart is more intriguing than Anwar’s factor alone.
January 26th, 2008 at 7:25 am
January 26th, 2008 at 4:59 pm
The indian ones just like the current stock market
January 27th, 2008 at 10:58 pm
Popular or not, the reality is that he will still be voted in. But it would be our right to let him know that he is not getting outright endorsement as easily as before and this I intend to do, at the ballot box.
January 28th, 2008 at 2:21 am
Going down!
How low will it go?
We will soon know
The 2/3 majority, cut to 61% or less?
YES, YES, YES!
January 28th, 2008 at 7:14 pm
The so called approval rating is meaningless and pointless if it does not translate to actual results of the votes.
Then again, it would be madness to expect the votes to be fair anyway in the upcoming election.
January 28th, 2008 at 11:40 pm
首相拿督斯里阿都拉促請國人對自己的國家要有信心，不要拿新加坡和香港等經濟強國或地區跟大馬做比較，因為這就像葡萄和蘋果一樣，不能相提並論.
“新加坡已经从香蕉变葡萄了。 我国从蘋果变烂蘋果”。请醒醒吧！
April 9th, 2008 at 11:19 am