Kuala Lumpur, October 08: Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak has seen his approval rating dip to 56 percent in September, down from 65 percent in July, according to a new poll by the independent Merdeka Center.
The poll of 1,027 people, conducted Sept. 4-14 showed that concerns over the state of Malaysia’s economy, which has been hit by falling demand for its exports, have diminished and just 21 percent of respondents worried over the economy down from 44 percent at the end of 2008.
The poll was published ahead of next week’s annual meeting of the main government party, the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO).
Approval ratings for Najib fell across all ethnic groups in Malaysia, a majority Malay country with large ethnic Chinese and Indian populations.
Among Malays, 55 percent of the 27 million population, who are the core voter base of Najib’s party, the United Malays National Organisation, his approval rating fell to 64 percent from 74 percent recorded in July.
Among ethnic Chinese voters, 25 percent of the population, his rating fell to 26 percent in September from 48 percent in July.
Despite the drop in ratings, Najib’s approval rating is still far better than the overall 34 percent recorded in March, a month before he became prime minister.
While 56 percent of those polled said that Najib was doing a good job of improving the country’s education system, only 35 percent thought he was doing a good job cleaning up corruption and 50 percent said they were not satisfied.
Corruption is a key issue as Najib seeks to woo voters who deserted the National Front coalition in elections last year.
“A full 86 percent disagreed in having leaders involved in money politics stand for elections while 75 percent opposed leaders tainted with a sex scandal,” Merdeka said.
The National Front, a 13-strong coalition led by UMNO, is fielding a by-election candidate on Sunday who was barred from UMNO for bribes during internal polls.
—-Agencies