52% of voters believe Ismail should continue as PM, survey shows

Over 52% of voters in a new survey believe that Ismail Sabri Yaakob should be given the opportunity to continue serving as Malaysia's prime minister, with nearly 57% also agreeing with the move to hold the election this year. 

The survey, conducted by electoral think tank Ilham Centre from Oct 20 to Nov 6, involved 1,211 respondents randomly chosen from throughout the peninsula. 

Of these, 52.8% said Ismail should be allowed to steer the country for a longer period, in the interests of the people, compared to 27.9% who disagreed and 19.3% who said they were unsure.

A total of 56.8% meanwhile said that given the current affairs, the election should be held at the end of the year, while 32.3% disagreed and 10.9% said they were unsure. 

Just under 50% – 49.1% – said Malaysia had made good headway in tackling the global economic crisis compared to its neighbouring countries, while 25.9% disagreed and 24.9% said they were unsure.

And 45.6% said Ismail was a reasonable choice for prime minister candidate, compared with 33.1% who disagreed and 21.3% who said they were unsure.

Eighty percent agreed with the move by Ismail's government to reopen the country's economic sectors in April, against 6.5% who disagreed and 13.5% who said they were unsure. 

Meanwhile, 78.0% said the RM77.7 billion subsidies alloted by Ismail's government was necessary and had helped support economic recovery, while 39.9% said the National Recovery Council chaired by former prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin was a waste of public funds and had complicated Ismail's efforts to resolve the people's troubles.

A total of 89.1% said the government's move to increase Bantuan Keluarga Malaysia payments to RM2,500 was "very good", and 87.3% agreed with the move to reduce the rax rate for residents by two percentage points.