Survey: Malays favour Muhyiddin as PM but not his party

 

A survey has suggested that Muhyiddin Yassin enjoyed the support of two-thirds of the Malays as prime minister.

However, the same survey suggested that only seven percent of Malays supported his party Bersatu, according to the quarterly poll conducted by Emir Research in August.

The poll involved 2,096 respondents who were chosen through a multi-stage sampling technique and surveyed face-to-face, with the goal of representing all 222 parliamentary constituencies.

The second most popular choice for prime minister among the Malays was Dr Mahathir Mohamad (nine percent) followed by Abdul Hadi Awang (eight percent), Anwar Ibrahim (five percent) Mukhriz Mahathir (four percent) and Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (three percent).

The total number of options for this question posed to respondents is unknown.

Half of the Chinese and Indian respondents favoured Muhyiddin as prime minister and so did a whopping 94 percent of bumiputera from Sabah and Sarawak.

In terms of party preference, the survey suggested that Umno (51 percent) was the most popular party among Malays followed by PAS (21 percent), Parti Pejuang Tanah Air (Pejuang, eight percent), Bersatu (seven percent) and PKR (three percent).

The share of Malays who supported Amanah, DAP, MCA, Gerakan, Parti Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) and Warisan were all one percent respectively.

Respondents were asked to choose from 21 parties. Three percent of Malays chose "independent" as their party preference.

This survey also found that Umno received the support of 25 percent from Chinese respondents, 26 percent from Indian respondents and 24 percent from the bumiputera in Sabah and Sarawak.

Overall, from this survey, Umno appeared to be the most popular party across all major ethnic groups.

The second most popular party among the Chinese respondents was the DAP while among Indian respondents, it was PKR.

Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) and Bersatu were tied for second place among Sabah and Sarawak bumiputera respondents.

The survey suggested that Umno supporters came from across all income brackets while Bersatu supporters tend to be from upper-income groups.

"As one of the discussants sums it up: 'Many people said that this current government is the government that we need, not the government that you want, not the government that we have chosen'," said Emir Research.

Emir Research's quarterly poll analysis was supplemented with its own focus group discussions involving 63 participants.

It declined to provide Malaysiakini with a full list of questions posed to respondents for the quantitative component of the survey.

Emir Research is owned by Bersatu former supreme council member Rais Hussin, who is also the firm's president and CEO. He is also chairperson of the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (Mdec). - Mkini