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PM's approval rating drops two points
10-Jan-2013, Malaysiakini.com

Just months before the 13th general election (GE13) is to take place, a survey found that Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's popularity rating has dropped two points to 63 percent, from 65 percent last November.

"While satisfaction among Malay and Indian voters remained strong at 77 percent and 76 percent respectively, the sentiment among Chinese voters had dropped to 34 percent," pollster Merdeka Centre said in a statement today.

Meanwhile, the level of dissatisfaction increased by one percentage point from 29 percent to 30 percent - the highest in over two years.

This is according to a phone poll carried out by Merdeka Centre in December last year, on a stratified random sampling of 1,018 registered voters comprising 59 percent Malay, 32 percent Chinese and 9 percent Indian respondents, selected based on ethnicity, gender and state of residence.

The survey also found that voters’ perception of the government remained lukewarm with 45 percent respondents happy with the government, while 47 percent of the respondents said that they were happy with the Barisan Nasional ruling coalition.

Merdeka Centre polled the respondents between Dec 15 and 28, last year to gauge voters’ perceptions of current developments in the country.

The poll took place just after the Umno general assembly,interviews and statements by businessperson Deepak Jaikishan and former chief of police Musa Hassan, as well as controversies over ‘Amanat Haji Hadi’ and use of the word ‘Allah’ by the non-Muslim community.

Support increased among youth

The pollsters found there were differences in views expressed between by the younger and the older generation, men and women, and between those of lower and higher income.

BN has the lowest support among those who are younger, with 34 percent of those between 21 to 30 indicating they were 'dissatisfied' - the highest among all the age group.

More women than men are 'happy' with BN. The same is true of those who are working in government/government-linked companies and the unemployed compared to those in private sector and self-employed.

Support for BN appears highest among the low income.

Previously it was reported that Najib's rating rose by one percentlast November, following the tabling of the 2013 budget, compared to 64 percent recorded in June this year.

Last July, Merdeka Centre found Najib's approval rating dropped one point from 65 percent in May to 64 percent after it found a significant drop in Malay and Indian satisfaction over his performance.

The independent pollsters found Malay respondents' satisfaction of Najib's performance was 75 percent, down four percent from May, while the figure was 69 percent for Indian respondents, down three percent.