Chinese support for Umno ‘as high’ as for DAP, not more, says think tank

 

Survey shows Umno getting 25% support from Chinese community, while DAP had 17%.

PETALING JAYA: A think tank has clarified that its survey findings indicate that the Chinese community’s support for Umno is “as high” as its support for DAP, and not “higher than” as had been previously reported.

In a statement to FMT, Emir Research said it was not correct to conclude from its survey that support for Umno was higher than DAP among the Chinese.

It was responding to an FMT report on its survey of over 2,000 respondents, which put support for Umno among the Chinese community at 25% compared with 17% for DAP.

Emir Research, however, says given the margin of error, it is inaccurate to conclude that Umno enjoyed more Chinese support than DAP.

“Only when we observe a percentage difference of at least 10% we can conclude that such a large difference cannot be by chance.

“So, the more scientifically accurate way to interpret the observed results is that the support for Umno is as high as that for DAP among the Chinese respondents”.

The survey, carried out in August also showed that Umno was by far the most widely supported party among those surveyed, picking up 42.8% of responses, well ahead of PAS and PPBM with 15.5% and 8.5% respectively.

Broken down by ethnic demographic, Umno was still the most consistently well-supported group, with a quarter of Chinese respondents expressing support.

In comparison, just 17% of these respondents selected DAP as their party of choice. The party scored just 1% of support from the Malays.

When asked about the most important factor dictating their vote, 29% of those surveyed put it down to their “principles”.

Following close behind were party loyalty and affinity for a particular politician, which registered 25% and 24% of responses, respectively. - FMT