'A six-point drop is nothing. Najib is still popular at 59 percent. What is wrong with those Malaysians who approve of his administration?'

Najib's approval rating dips 6 points to 59%

Ghkok: This survey is actually more relevant to a presidential system where the president is directly elected by the people, for example in the United States.

In a presidential system, the president is directly elected while his entire cabinet is appointed by him. They are not elected. So the president's approval rating is a reflection of his government's approval rating.

In the parliamentary system that we practise, the prime minister's cabinet consists of ministers who are all elected MPs (except the few who get in through the backdoor by way of being appointed senators).

So in principle, the prime minister in a parliamentary system is ‘first amongst equals', where the PM shares power with the cabinet in a more balanced way compared to the presidential system where the president calls the shots in the cabinet because he's the only one elected by the people.

Thus in a parliamentary system, it is more meaningful to get the approval rating of each of the ministers (and whole cabinet collectively) rather than just the PM.

AnakBangsaMalaysia: PM Najib Razak is clearly not paying public relations agencies Apco and FBC Media enough or they are failing miserably at their jobs.

His 59 percent popularity is still woefully below Muammar Gaddafi's (until recent events) 100 percent approval rating amongst the Libyan people.

Apco and FBC must perform better so that millions of Malaysians will adore Najib just like the way the Libyan people had adored Gaddafi.

20121221Disaster: We must take the Merdeka Centre survey as genuine because in Malaysia the percentage of those able to access news from the Internet is still low.

I hereby call upon all of you to help to send the important news from the Internet to friends. So please don't just read and comment. Please help spread the news.

Anonymous1: Fifty-nine percent is not bad. US President Barack Obama is now at 46 percent approval rating and UK Premier David Cameron is at 42 percent. Globally, leaders ratings are dropping as "it's all about the economy, stupid".

We should have approval ratings of other Malaysian leaders. What about the leaders of other BN component parties and those from Pakatan Rakyat. We will have a clearer picture when we have the ratings of the other leaders.

Kee Thuan Chye: A six-point drop is nothing. He is still - horrors! - popular at 59 percent. What is wrong with those Malaysians who approve of his administration?

Kim Quek: Merdeka Centre's opinion poll carried out from Feb 27 to March 4, 2008 shows the prime minister's (Abdullah Ahmad Badawi then) approval rating was 71 percent.

But four days later, on polling day of March 9, 2008, BN only garnered 50 percent of the popular votes. These figures speak for themselves.

Yeap Cheng Liang: I don't care whether it's 59 percent or 95 percent, Malaysia is in deep shit because of BN. I will vote against BN until a new government is installed.

Kit P: Folks, don't get too excited about the survey results. Whatever drop in support Najib may suffer from true Malaysians has already been more than neutralised by the guaranteed votes for BN from the legions of ‘instant' Malaysians provided by the Election Commission, in collusion with the National Registration Department.

They get cooked faster than Maggi Mee.

Docs: I'm more interested in FLOM's (Rosmah Mansor) approval rating looking into the fantastic social work she is doing as portrayed on a daily basis by The Star, along with colour photos of her in action. I think the Merdeka Centre should conduct a survey on her approval ratings.

SusahKes: 59 percent don't give a hoot about Teoh Beng Hock, Altantuya Shaaribuu, A Kugan, corruption, Scorpene's commission, ‘I help you, you help me', bloated cabinet made worse by ineffective back-door appointees, continual wastage of public funds, VK Lingam saga, electoral machination, rising living costs, racism and religious extremism?

Syabas, I say to you - you deserve the government you approve of.

Pollster: 88% of M'sians back Bersih demands

Quigonbond: The silent majority is agreeable to Bersih 2.0. I'd like BN ministers to come out now and say they have no confidence in Merdeka Centre survey, in which case they should also not have confidence when Najib's approval ratings were in the 70s.

Who in the right mind wouldn't agree with Bersih demands? It's reasonable, it's simple to implement, and it's simply the right thing to do.

Only a politically or financially interested party will call white, black. The survey runs deeper than it looks. It means a majority of Malaysians have no confidence left in the current Election Commission.

The prime minister should advise the king to appoint a new batch of professionals to the commission to ensure electoral reform and free and fair elections.

Kgen: Only 37% of Malays disapprove of the government's handling of Bersih? Did they confine the survey to hardcore Umno Malays?

Onyourtoes: If majority of the Malays agreed that Bersih demands are to be supported, it is illogical/contradictory to me that they supported the police actions during the rally.

Dood: One wonders what all those anti-Bersih people who claimed that ‘the silent majority' are against Bersih and agree with how the current electoral system is run, have to say now, considering that it has been revealed that overwhelming proportion of Malaysians agree with Bersih demands.

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