Anwar's approval rating rises slightly to 54pct - survey

Summary

• Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s approval rating has risen to 54 percent in a Merdeka Center survey, up from 50 percent in last year, with voters citing efforts to improve Malaysia’s image, attract investment, and streamline the civil service.

• Economic concerns dominate sentiments, with 53 percent feeling Malaysia is on the wrong track, driven by the cost of living and subsidy cut anxieties.

• The survey highlights the economy as voters’ top issue, though concerns have eased slightly since last year.

As Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim begins his second year in office, a survey found that voters had given him a slightly improved rating of 54 percent.

This is according to the findings of a Merdeka Center survey that asked 1,207 people from Nov 27 and Dec 10 whether they were satisfied with the prime minister’s performance.

Fifty-four percent of respondents answered in the affirmative, often citing Anwar’s efforts to improve Malaysia’s image, draw foreign investment, and streamline the civil service.

However, opinions are mixed about his efforts to strengthen Malaysia’s economy.

Another 39 percent of respondents gave Anwar the thumbs down, while eight percent were neutral about his performance.

In comparison, his approval rating was 68 percent in the honeymoon period after he was sworn into office in 2022, falling to as low as 43 percent in June this year, before rising to the current level.

During the corresponding period in November last year, a similar Merdeka Center survey gave Anwar an approval rating of 50 percent.

Over half feel M’sia heading wrong way

Despite the improved approval rating, however, 53 percent of respondents feel Malaysia is going in the wrong direction, compared to 39 percent who feel optimistic about the country’s future.

This is similar to last year’s ratings.

Whether the sentiment is positive or negative, respondents overwhelmingly cited economic issues as the reason.

The reasons for optimism include favourable economic conditions (11.7 percent), improving economy (10.1 percent), good national or state administration (8.7 percent), and political stability (5.8 percent).

Meanwhile, those who felt the country was going in the wrong direction cited unfavourable economic conditions (26.5 percent), high cost of living (16.6 percent), poor administration (6.9 percent), and political instability (6.7 percent).

“The tight spread between positives and negatives is largely driven by persistent concerns about cost of living pressures and some anxiety over subsidy cuts slated to take place in the future.

“As in the past, voter sentiments remain focused on the economy, as largely driven by their concerns over the economy, where 65 percent state as the ‘number one problem facing people in the country today’, though high, has dropped from 74 percent one year ago,” Merdeka Center said in a statement.

The survey was conducted via telephone across Malaysia during the survey period, with respondents aged 18 and above selected via random stratified sampling along ethnic, gender, age, and state lines.

The margin of error is estimated at ±2.82 percent.

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