The country’s political climate will remain the same if an election is called six months from now, a new survey by Universiti Malaya’s Centre for Democracy and Elections (Umcedel) reveals.

Most of the 1,676 respondents in the survey were equally divided between refusing to answer whether they supported BN or Pakatan Rakyat.

As expected, the sympathies of the majority of the Malay respondents lay with BN, while a majority of Chinese respondents pledged support for Pakatan Rakyat.

NONE Umcedel based the question on a six-month period, assuming all the electricity tariff and other hikes would be felt by the people within the next six months, Umcedel director Dr Redzuan Othman ( left ) said during the presentation of the survey findings at Universiti Malaya today.

Thirty-two percent of the respondents said they support BN, with 29 percent supporting Pakatan Rakyat.

Another 32 percent, most of them Malays, refused to disclose their political inclinations.

The survey also showed that a majority of the respondents considered Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s leadership to have been negatively affected by his failure to capture two-thirds majority in the May 3 general election.

'Climate still the same: 50:50 on the ground'

Forty-six percent of the respondents said Najib's image was affected, while 30 percent said it did not affect his stature, with the rest being unsure.

Perception towards opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim’s image for his failure to capture Putrajaya was also divided, with 32 percent saying his image was affected, while 36 percent said 'no'.

“What we can conclude is that there are gains or losses for both parties. The climate is still the same as it was during the election. It’s still 50:50 on the ground,” Redzuan said.

The survey was conducted face-to-face with respondents across all states in Peninsular Malaysia.

However, a majority of the 32 percent respondents who refused to openly pledge their support to either party were Malay first-time voters and largely from the urban areas.

"This is the group of people that both political parties should be aiming to win over," Redzuan said, and he went on to describe the situation as a "stalemate".

This is the 17th survey conducted by Umcedel, and its third since the 13th general election.

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