By Sulyn Chong
SHAH ALAM, Nov 18 — There is increased attention among voters on who is to become the 10th Malaysian prime minister, with 33 per cent of voters opting for Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim for the 15th general election (GE15).
The Merdeka Centre for Opinion Research in its 15th Malaysia General Election Survey said that voters’ preferences remain generally stable as election day, which begins tomorrow (November 19), approaches.
“Anwar (Pakatan Harapan) leads with 33 per cent of all voters, followed by (Tan Sri) Muhyiddin Yassin (Perikatan Nasional – PN) at 26 per cent and (Datuk Seri) Ismail Sabri (Barisan Nasional – BN) at 17 per cent.
“That said, there were significant differences across ethnic groups. Among Malay voters, Muhyiddin Yassin enjoyed plurality support at 39 per cent, followed by Ismail Sabri at 24 per cent, while Anwar Ibrahim was at 16 per cent,” it said.
In addition, the research outfit also noted that a day before election day, the factors driving voters’ choice have shifted markedly from the local candidates in contestation to the national leader nominated or prime minister candidate presented by the respective coalitions.
“We found that who the national leader or prime minister would be was ranked highest at 29 per cent compared to 23 per cent on nomination day (November 5).
“This means, voter attention is more focused on who they feel is more capable of leading the government,” it said.
Furthermore, the survey also showed that 33.6 per cent of voters opted for Harapan over BN, which garnered only 15.4 per cent and PN with 20.3 per cent.
The pollster also added that they found a pronounced decline in overt preference for BN among Malay voters with only 21.3 per cent, while PN saw an increase in support with 32.4 per cent.
“As for Harapan, it continues to draw strong support from Chinese and Indians with 69 per cent and 60 per cent respectively, as well as a stable level of Malay voters of 13.3 per cent,” it said.
The results of the survey also showed that 29 per cent of voters refused to disclose their choices.
“From experience, we think it is likely that most of these undisclosed responses are likely to choose an opposition party,” said the Merdeka Centre
The survey was carried out between November 3 and 18. The respondents include 1,203 Malaysians aged 18 and above comprising 62 per cent Malay, 29 per cent Chinese and nine per cent Indian who were interviewed via fixed lines and mobile phones.
Respondents were selected based on random stratified samplings along age group, ethnicity, gender as well as state, and were sampled from each of the 165 parliamentary constituencies in Peninsular Malaysia.
