Muhyiddin is Malaysians’ top pick for PM with 65% support, poll finds

KUALA LUMPUR – Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin is Malaysians’ prime minister of choice with an overwhelming 65% support, a poll showed.

Emir Research, in its Quarterly Poll for the Third Quarter 2020 – Part 2, found that Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad comes in second with 10% support, followed by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim (8%).

“Similar patterns of support were recorded within various demographics. However, Muhyiddin had greater support among urban respondents (68%),” said the independent think-tank in a press release yesterday.

“Muhyiddin was the preferred vote across states except in Penang, where Dr Mahathir received the greatest support.

“Gender-wise, female respondents (73%) showed stronger support for Muhyiddin. In terms of age, he had more support among the younger groups.

“He also enjoyed greater support among Malays and Bumiputeras in Sabah and Sarawak.”

Unexpectedly, it said, support for Muhyiddin among the Chinese and Indians is solid at 50% and 49%, respectively.

“The second-highest support within these two ethnic groups was for Anwar, while higher-educated folk are reliably associated with positive support for Muhyiddin.”

That Chinese and Indian respondents indicated strong support for Muhyiddin inspires more fact-finding, said Emir Research.

“For the Chinese and Indian groups, government satisfaction was not a driver in their choice of a political leader. In contrast, Malay and Bumiputera respondents who supported Muhyiddin registered significantly higher levels of satisfaction with the government, in agreement with what the Voters’ Worry-Satisfaction Valence model postulates – greater satisfaction with the incumbent government leads to its greater support by the rakyat.”

It said a possible explanation for the findings may be the unanimous yearning for stability, a topic reiterated numerous times in focus-group discussions.

“As one of the participants observed, many people have said the current government is the government we need, not the government that you want, not the government that we chose.”

The survey was conducted in August and involved 2,096 respondents, comprising Malaysians from all states, with the focus-group discussions held in July.

Emir Research said the poll did not take into account what has happened since, such as the third coronavirus wave that started in late September, Anwar’s claim to have majority support in Parliament and Muhyiddin’s bid to declare a state of emergency. – Bernama, November 17, 2020