Govt's rating stands at only 31pct - Merdeka Center survey

The approval rating for the BN-led government stood at 31 percent after the Parliament's dissolution, with 60 percent of the respondents voicing dissatisfaction, a Merdeka Center research has revealed.

The survey, conducted among 1,209 voters aged 18 and above between Oct 19 and 28, also showed that about 72 percent of the respondents felt that the country was headed in the "wrong direction".

In a statement today, Merdeka Center said only about 20 percent of those surveyed believed that the country remained on the right track - a view prompted by concerns over the state of the economy, political uncertainty arising from the upcoming election, and other topics such as corruption and inter-ethnic issues.

"Seventy-four percent of voters feel that the economy is the country's biggest problem at the moment, but voters' own concerns were split across inflation (31 percent), political instability (13 percent), corruption (12 percent), and economic growth (12 percent).

"Meanwhile, the approval rating for caretaker prime minister (Ismail Sabri Yaakob) is at 42 percent," the organisation said.

Voting inclination

On factors driving voting choices, the survey found that voters preferred local candidates (31 percent), followed by the party (21 percent), as opposed to national leadership (13 percent).

Younger voters were more likely to consider the national leadership factor (24 percent) compared to the rest of the electorate, it said.

"With respect to candidate characteristics, the two most important desirable features were someone who “has good ideas for the country” at 27 percent, “clean and trustworthy” at 24 percent, and “able to bring development to the area” at 13 percent.

"Here again, young voters placed greater emphasis on 'clean and trustworthy' at 34 percent and held lesser importance on a candidate’s ability to 'bring development' which garnered only four percent."

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