by Theleaders-Online | July 20, 2019 3:05 am
Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s approval rating improved recently after hitting a record low of 46% in March this year.
In a poll conducted by Merdeka Centre, it showed Mahathir’s approval ratings climbed to 55% in May and to 62% last month.
His improved ratings are attributed to the rise of support from the Malays and Chinese community.
The support of the Malays stood at 50% as opposed to the 16% Mahathir enjoyed in March.
Mahathir’s support from the Chinese community also soared by 16 % to 77% in the same period.
However, the support from the Indian community declined by six percent from 80% in March to 74% in June.
On Pakatan Harapan, the approval rating for the ruling coalition stood at 41% in May and remained unchanged in June.
Meanwhile, Pakatan Harapan’s approval rating stood at 41 percent in May and remained the same in June.
While there is data to show the support level between Jan to April, Pakatan’s support has been on the downtrend since the last general election.
Since December last year, the approval rating towards Pakatan had declined by eight percent among the Malays to 32 percent in June this year.
Likewise, satisfaction among Chinese voters declined by 14% to 51%, while among the Indian community, it declined by 18% to 59% in the same period.
In terms of national development, more voters are believing that Malaysia is headed on the right track.
As of June, 40% of voters said the country is moving in the right direction, an improvement of six percent from March.
Voters who think the country is moving in the wrong direction also declined from 46% to 38% in the same period.
Along racial lines, 31% of Malays believed the country was moving in the right direction as of June compared to 24% in March.
Likewise, 53% of the Chinese believed the country was moving in the right direction compared to 43% in the same period.
However, this figure declined from 63 % to 45% in the same period among the Indian community.
The main three reasons cited for the improved sentiment towards the government are good administration (18%), fight against corruption (15%) and improving the economy (10%).
The top three reasons cited by those who believe the country was headed in the wrong direction are the economy concerns (32%), leadership (12%) and weak administration (12%).
The survey involving 961 respondents was conducted between June 28 to July 1.
The Malaysian Insight
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