Chinese, young voters dominate undecided, BN in lead, UM poll shows

Chinese, young voters dominate undecided, BN in lead, UM poll shows

UPDATED @ 07:00:05 AM 24-01-2013

By Ida Lim

January 23, 2013

Malaysian Insider

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak visits Rumah Sejahtera Seri Setia in Kampung Baru Sungai Way in December 2011. — file photo

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 23 — The Chinese community and young voters make up most of the fence sitters who will determine the winner of Election 2013, with a University of Malaya Centre of Democracy and Election (UMCEDEL) survey showing also that Barisan Nasional (BN) is ahead by five percentage points in its bid to retain power.

A total of 1,409 voters were polled by the centre recently on whether they thought Barisan Nasional (BN) or Pakatan Rakyat (PR) would win, with 42 per cent saying the former will win and 37 per cent saying the latter will win.

In a slideshow that was shown to the media today, the fence sitters, which stood at 21 per cent, were further broken down into four categories — race, age, level of education and voter status.

The Chinese community was the highest in the race category at 53 per cent, while Malay and Indian voters stood at 37 per cent and 10 per cent respectively.

The majority of fence sitters tended to be university graduates at 49 per cent, while voters aged 21 to 30 years led their category at 51 per cent.

At 48 per cent, first-time voters took up the largest chunk of those who have yet to make up their minds.

In the survey, 51 per cent of female voters polled predicted a win for BN, while 29 per cent said that PR would win.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s popularity fell to 54 per cent, down from 58 per cent and 61 per cent in similar surveys by the centre last September and March respectively.

When asked who is most qualified to be the prime minister, respondents were split almost evenly between Najib and the Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, at 43 and 42 per cent respectively.

Deputy prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and PAS president Datuk Abdul Hadi Awang trailed behind the duo as PM-to-be choices at 22 and 26 per cent respectively.

First-time voters appeared to back Anwar at 52 per cent, while 30 per cent said Najib would be most qualified.

The Chinese community similarly viewed Anwar as more suited for the job at 61 per cent, while 35 per cent of them chose Najib.

But Malay voters polled were more in favour of Najib at 46 per cent, while 34 per cent supported Anwar.

The nationwide survey titled “Polling Trends in the Run-up to the 13th General Election” was carried out from December 26, 2012 to this January 11 through face-to-face and phone interviews.

The respondents were drawn from a diverse range in terms of race, age, level of education, occupation and salary.