More in favour of Najib after Budget 2018 presentation – survey

KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s approval ratings has increased after he presentated Budget 2018 in October last year, according to a survey.

Research firm Kajidata in a recently conducted survey found that over one-third of Malaysians or 36 per cent were now satisfied with Najib’s performance, a significant rise of 12 percentage points from the previous year.

Over a quarter of respondents, or 26 per cent, were not satisfied with his performance. This figure, however, was a fall of 14 percentage points from the previous year.

A total of 38 per cent remained unsure of the prime minister’s performance.

“Interesting to note that among all the ethnicity surveyed, the Indian community recorded the highest with 56 per cent stating that they were satisfied with Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s performance as the prime minister,” said Kajidata’s adviser Prof Datuk Syed Arabi Idid, who led the survey.

The same poll also revealed that 59.9 per cent of respondents were unsure of who to vote for in the general elections.

For the rest, 27.8 per cent said it would choose Barisan Nasional (BN), Pakatan Harapan (5.7 per cent), PAS (3.7 per cent), and abstain from voting (2.9 per cent).

This comes as 30 per cent of those polled said they were satisfied by the budget, an eight percentage points increase from the previous year.

Additionally, 41 per cent believed that the budget will be distributed equally among the rural and urban areas, compared to more emphasis to urban areas (30 per cent), or just rural areas (29 per cent).

When asked whether they thought Budget 2018 had considered issues voiced by the public, 35 per cent said “yes”, 27 per cent “no”, and 38 per cent were unsure.

Despite that, nearly half of the respondents, at 46 per cent, believed that Budget 2018 could ease the cost of living faced by the public — a 15 percentage points rise from the year before.

The respondents were also asked whether they were aware that Pakatan Harapan had also tabled its shadow budget: Only 26 per cent said so.

For those who were aware of the Opposition’s budget, 27 per cent of them said it was superior to BN’s. The other 25 per cent believed otherwise, but 48 per cent did not have any opinion on the matter.

The survey had polled 1,059 voters between November 1 and 22 through telephone, with the subjects randomised along ethnicity, gender, age and state.

Last year, Najib had allocated a total of RM280.25 billion for Budget 2018, an increase from the RM260.8 billion in Budget 2017.

It had been called “the mother of all budgets” for arriving prior to the 14th general election.