A RECENT survey by Architects of Diversity (AOD) found that youth support was leaning towards Barisan Nasional (BN) ahead of the 15th general election.

However the study, involving 3,089 respondents, also found that a significant portion – 41% – of youth were still unsure of their political preferences ahead of the next election. 

BN however was the preferred coalition among respondents who decided to make a pick. 

“More than a third (41%) of youth are undecided about their political preferences.

“There is a tight four-cornered competition among youth vote with BN leading by a slim margin of 15.5% support,” AOD co-founder Jason Wee said at a press conference today. 

In the survey, former prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s Perikatan Nasional bagged the second-highest number of votes with 13.8% of respondents selecting parties in the coalition. 

The Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman-led Muda was third with 11.9% support, while the Anwar Ibrahim-led Pakatan Harapan coalition was fourth with 10.5% support. 

Sarawak-based Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) was next in the list with 4.3% of support, followed by Warisan (2%). 

Two-time former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s Pejuang obtained just 0.7% support from respondents, while Parti Sarawak Bersatu rounded up the list with 0.4% of support.

Of BN’s 15.5% support, 11.4% of the respondents voted for Umno, followed by MCA (2.3%), Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah (1.2%) and MIC (0.5%).  

As for PN’s 13.8% support, PAS, and not Muhyiddin’s Bersatu, was the respondents’ top choice.  

The Islamist party received 8.2% votes, followed by Bersatu (3.1%), Gerakan (1.5%) and STAR (0.9%). 

In PH, the youth support for PKR and DAP were relatively close, where Anwar’s PKR obtained 4.5% support from respondents while DAP got 4.4%.  

Other PH coalition members Amanah received 1.2% support while Upko got (0.4%).

Within the GPS coalition, Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu topped the respondents’ choice with 1.5% support, followed by Parti Rakyat Sarawak (1.4%), Sarawak United Peoples’ Party (1.1%) and the Progressive Democratic Party (0.3%). 

The survey titled Who will youth vote for was conducted over two weeks, from February 22 to March 7. 

AOD conducted the poll in collaboration with Undi18 and Undi Negaraku.  

Respondents of the survey were aged between 18 and 30. 

This study was done as part of #Undi100Peratus, a campaign seeking to achieve 100% youth voter turnout in the next election.  

Based on the study, Wee said that 80% of those surveyed reported their intentions to vote in the next general election, while 13% are sitting on the fence.  

The statistics showed that 55% of the 80% with the intent to vote, have not cast their ballots in an election before. – May 25, 2022.