Kajidata's survey indicates BN will prevail in GE14
KUALA LUMPUR, May 3 (Bernama) -- A survey conducted by the Kajidata Research on the people's current perception on Pakatan Harapan (PH) has found that Barisan Nasional (BN) will prevail in the 14th General Election (GE14).
The telephone poll from March 12-27 with 1,021 respondents nationwide found that 39 per cent of the respondents agreed that BN would form the state government in their respective states compared with 32.8 per cent for PH.
Also, 40.3 per cent of the respondents said BN would form the Federal Government, and a much smaller percentage (29.9) said the same for PH.
On which party the respondents would choose if the general election were held the next day, the study found that both BN and PH were favoured almost equally but with a significant number (40.8 per cent) remaining undecided which side to vote for.
Kajidata's adviser, Professor Syed Arabi Idid who has been conducting studies on the country\'s elections noted that those undecided were actually the fence-sitters that BN, PH and PAS are trying to woo.
About 45 per cent of the Malay respondents felt that the community's support for PH would increase but Syed Arabi, the former rector of the International Islamic University Malaysia, highlighted that a Malay tsunami happening as envisaged by some, remained to be seen.
Interestingly, Kajidata's study also found that respondents including the Malays were more familiar with DAP (33 per cent) than PKR (31.2 per cent) in the PH coalition, followed by Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM) at 18.8 per cent and Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah) 17.0 per cent.
About 64.2 per cent of the respondents also agreed that Chinese support was still with PH and their support for DAP, in particular, during the GE14 would increase.
While 16.7 per cent of the respondents agreed with former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad being the choice for the prime minister's post, 13.3 per cent favoured Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim. Nonetheless, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak (20.5 per cent) tops the prime minister candidate's list among the three.
The study also tested the popularity of other leaders for the prime minister's post, including Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, Rafizi Ramli, Lim Guan Eng, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein, Datuk Seri Mukhriz Tun Dr Mahathir, and others but the respondents did not view the names favourably.
Respondents also agreed that PH's reformasi agenda was dead following Dr Mahathir's collaboration with PKR. The PH manifesto too, received lukewarm response except for its promise to abolish the GST.
Syed Arabi anticipated that BN would continue ruling with a simple majority, like most of the ruling parties in the world today. BN draws its strength from the rural voters which PH has yet to make effective inroads and hence, BN still has the upper hand in the GE14.
Also, Syed Arabi during his two-day visit to key battle states of Kelantan and Terengganu to observe the political realities on the ground after the nomination day noted that BN and PAS were better organised in their preparations for the general election.
However, he said, the outcome in both states was difficult to predict as both were dominated by Malays and the parties contesting are also Malay-based parties. Hence, the votes could be split by all three parties.
Kajidata is a market research company specialising in public, commercial and socio-politics intelligence.
-- BERNAMA
