SEVEN out of 10 Malaysian voters are satisfied with the performance of Muhyiddin Yassin as the prime minister in a survey conducted by independent think-tank Merdeka Centre.

Its head of research, Ibrahim Suffian, said today nine out of 10 Malays and Bumiputeras from Sabah and Sarawak gave the PM the thumbs-up.

He said: “69% of Malaysian voters felt Muhyiddin has done a fantastic job as the PM (while) 65% of Indians and 33% Chinese were satisfied with him.”

The survey was conducted between July 15 and August 10 to gauge voters’ perceptions towards the economy, leadership and current issues.

A total of 3,415 registered voters comprising 52% Malays, Chinese (29%), Indians (7%), Muslim Bumiputeras (6%) and non-Muslim Bumiputeras (6% from Sabah and Sarawak) took part in the survey.

Ibrahim said the Perikatan Nasional-led federal government enjoys the same satisfaction.

Respondents with income less than RM2,000 express positive views towards PN, he said.

“Interestingly, gap of income is one of the indicators to differentiate who agrees or disagrees with the performance of the government.

“Around three-quarters of the respondents, whose household income is less than RM2,000 per month, expressed positive views towards the federal government but only 40% were positive among those whose household income were higher than RM7,000 per month.

Another 58% are happy with PN while 28% are dissatisfied and angry.

PN replaced Pakatan Harapan in March after prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad resigned.

Muhyiddin became the new prime minister with the support from Umno and PAS as well as parties from Sarawak, resulting in the opposition calling it a backdoor government.

Heading in right direction

Meanwhile, the study also found that 51% of respondents feel that the country is headed in the right direction under PN.

“The number is slightly lower than May this year, but it is still significantly higher than last six months

“Between July 2019 and February, only a quarter of Malaysian thought the country was moving on the right track.

“For those who answered the country is in the right direction, 26% of them have attributed to good administration of the government while 21% happy with the leadership.” – September 2, 2020.