In 5 states, less than half of Malays happy with federal govt - survey

STATE POLLS | Malay voters in five of the six states holding elections tomorrow are generally dissatisfied with the federal government’s performance, according to a survey by Merdeka Center.

It found that the approval rating for the federal government among Malays is highest in Selangor (55 percent), versus 43 percent who are dissatisfied.

In the other five states, however, the figure is below 50 percent – 48 percent in Penang, 45 percent in Terengganu, 44 percent in Negeri Sembilan, 41 percent in Kelantan, and 38 percent in Kedah.

The survey was conducted via telephone with 6,179 voters in the six states from July 3 to yesterday afternoon – more than double the size of Ilham Centre’s survey.

The respondents were selected via randomised stratified sampling along the lines of ethnicity, gender, age groups, and state assembly constituencies.

A racially representative sample was obtained for Selangor and Negeri Sembilan, while the survey in Kedah, Kelantan, Terengganu, and Penang focused on Malay voters only.

When a racially representative sample is considered, the federal government’s approval rating is 66 percent in Selangor, and 55 percent in Negeri Sembilan.

Merdeka Centre said findings have a margin of error varying between 1.80 percent in Selangor to 4.38 percent in Kedah and Kelantan.

The study comes in the wake of a smaller study released by Ilham Center yesterday which asked a similar question – Are you satisfied with Anwar Ibrahim’s performance as prime minister?

It found the overall approval rating to be 42 percent, and only 24 percent among Malays. Among Chinese (88 percent) and Indian (81 percent) respondents, however, support is overwhelmingly positive.

Ilham Center obtained a racially representative sample for their survey, but did not provide a state-by-state breakdown of the level of Malay support for Anwar.

Instead, it found the overall approval rating to be at 70 percent in Penang, 62 percent in Selangor and Negeri Sembilan, 27 percent in Kedah, 21 percent in Terengganu, and 10 percent in Kelantan.

Ilham Center’s survey was conducted from July 11 to July 27 and is reported to have a margin of error of five percent.

Anwar had dismissed Ilham Center’s findings as “flawed”, saying, “Probably they take from Kelantan and compare it with Selangor. But in our states, we are doing extremely well. I am very optimistic.” - Mkini