According to Emir Research, an independent think-tank, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin was voted as the prime minister of choice among Malaysians with an overwhelming 65% majority support, followed by Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad with 10% of support and Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim with 8% support.

“Similar patterns of support were recorded within various demographic groups. However, Muhyiddin had greater support among the urban respondents (68 per cent). Muhyiddin was the preferred vote across the states except in Penang, where Dr Mahathir received the greatest support.

Emir Research also said that, “Gender-wise, the female group of respondents (73 per cent) has also shown stronger support for Muhyiddin. In terms of age, he (Muhyiddin) gained more support among the younger groups. He also enjoyed greater support among the Malays and Bumiputeras of Sabah and Sarawak.”

Another surprising outcome is that Muhyiddin received a very strong number of support from the Chinese and Indians with 50 per cent and 49 per cent within the ethnic groups respectively, the think-thank said. 

“Second highest support within these two ethnic groups was given to Anwar while the higher educated are reliably associated with positive support for Muhyiddin,” said the research.

According to the think-thank, one possible reason to these bewildering results could be the unanimous yearning for government stability. This can be clearly seen in the Focus Group Discussion (FGD) done by Emir Research back in July. As most of the discussants said that government stability is the most important during these tough times. 

“As one of the discussants sums it up: Many people said that this current government is the government that we need, not the government that you want, not the government that we have chosen,” it said.

The state-wide survey was conducted in August involving 2,096 respondents comprising Malaysians from all states including Sabah, Sarawak and the Federal Territory.

Source : Bernama