LATEST polling from YouGov which entailed 2,687 respondents between Nov 8 and 14 indicates that the 15th General Election (GE15) is unlikely to produce a clear winner although Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim-led Pakatan Harapan (PH) is most likely to emerge victorious with the largest share of the votes (35%).
Trailing behind the PH coalition is Bersatu president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin-led Perikatan Nasional (PN) which also boasts PAS as a component party at 20% of the vote, followed by caretaker prime minister’s (PM) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s Barisan Nasional (BN) by a 17%.
While PH is likely to perform well in urban parts of Malaysia, the substantially lower number of voters required to win a seat in rural electorates where BN and PN are likely to perform well means that the parliament is likely to be very complex, according to YouGov’s APAC head of public affairs and polling (Asia-Pacific) Dr Campbell White.
“That is not even taking into account the states of Sabah and Sarawak where local coalitions which have split from BN in the last term can do well in terms of seats on relatively small shares of the national vote,” he projected in a media release.
“The risk for PN and BN is that a conservative, predominately Bumiputera vote will be split in Peninsular Malaysia, under the ‘first-past-the-post’ system.”
When it came to voter views toward political figures specifically, Muhyiddin appeared to hold the best impression,with one in three (33%) feeling positively toward him. He has a narrow lead over Anwar (29%).
“Ismail Sabri is less popular than either of his two main opponents with 22% expressing a positive view and 30% negative,” YouGov pointed out.
Fewer held positive impressions of PAS president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi (16%) and two-time premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad (14%), with the greatest proportion of voters holding negative impressions toward the latter (44%).
Factors of concern
Asked about the issues of greatest importance this election, cost of living was dominant among voters with both rising costs of goods and services and income ranking highly.
Rising costs of goods and services came up top at 51%, followed by government integrity (38%). Both issues were of even greater consideration among older voters above the age of 50 (60% for rising costs of goods and services; 51% for government integrity).
Income was the topic of third greatest importance (37%), and was more paramount among younger voters aged between 18 and 34 (47%).
Elsewhere, close to three in 10 voters prioritised stability (28%) while one in five held protection of Bumiputera rights in high regard (22%).
Education, employment, income inequality, reducing discrimination, healthcare, candidate suitability and housing affordability made up the middle ground, while environmental issues, personal freedoms and crime were of least concern at this time (5% each).
Most voters said they have been following the news about the election at least a little (93%), with the most popular source of political news being Facebook (57%). A comparable number of voters also refer to television (56%).
Half rely on talking with friends and family (50%) while slightly fewer use other social network sites (44%).
Slightly less than two in five get their news from newspapers – whether printed or online (39%) – or other news websites that are not associated with any newspaper in particular (37%).
Another one in five access Twitter for their political news (22%). – Nov 16, 2022
