KUCHING: With the Madani administration marking its second year in office, Malaysian voters have given Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim an approval rating of 54 per cent compared to 50 per cent a year ago.
The findings were based on a survey conducted by Merdeka Center, an independent organisation focused on public opinion research and socio-economic analysis.
In a statement, it said voters were generally satisfied with the Prime Minister’s performance across a number of areas such as attracting investments, improving the country’s image and improving the civil service.
However, voters gave mixed assessment when asked about the efforts to strengthen the economy.
At the same time, the Unity federal government rating presently stands at 51 per cent compared to 46 per cent at November 2023.
Merdeka Center added dissatisfaction towards the federal government presently stands at 47 per cent.
The tight spread between positives and negatives are 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 per cent state as the “number one problem facing people in the country today”, though high, has dropped from 74 per cent one year ago.
Meanwhile, 53 per cent of the respondents think the country is headed in the wrong direction compared to 54 per cent one year ago.
Those who felt that the country is heading in the right direction also improved slightly to 39 per cent compared to 36 per cent in November 2023.
It said the major reasons for the wrong direction are economic issues (47 per cent), political instability (7 per cent) and poor administration (8 per cent).
The survey also measured the government’s performance on eight parameters namely generating economic growth, addressing cost of living issues, enhancing integrity, fighting corruption, maintaining the rule of law, helping those in financial distress, improving government efficiency, and improving ethnic relations.
The survey, carried out between Nov 27 to Oct 10 this year, gauged voters’ perceptions of current developments.
A total of 1,207 registered voters comprising 52 per cent Malay, 29 per cent Chinese, 7 per cent Indian, 6 per cent Muslim Bumiputera, 6 per cent Non- Muslim Bumiputera (from Sabah and Sarawak) were interviewed via fixed line and mobile telephones.
Respondents were selected on the basis of random stratified sampling along age group, ethnicity, gender and state constituency.
