Behind Anwar's declining popularity: Fighting corruption but getting slapped in the face?

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In last year's general election, Anwar finally ended his 24-year wait and became the 10th Prime Minister of Malaysia. The people are looking forward to his ability to revive the country. In the blink of an eye, a year has passed. How do the people rate his performance?

Tomorrow (24th) will be the first anniversary of Anwar's appointment as Prime Minister. After 24 years of looking forward to the "Prime Minister Dream", how many people are satisfied with his performance in office after his dream came true?

In conjunction with the first anniversary of the formation of the unity government, the Merdeka Center conducted an opinion poll last month, interviewing 1,220 voters, including 52% Malays, 29% Chinese, 7% Indians, 6% Muslim Bumiputeras, and 6% non-Muslim Bumiputeras in Sabah and Sarawak.

The agency's poll results released yesterday (22nd) showed that Anwar's popularity has dropped from 68% in December last year to 50%, a drop of 18% in just ten months.

At the same time, support for the unity government has also fallen, from 54% in December last year to 41%; the number of voters dissatisfied with the government's performance has also increased from 25% to 48%.

The Merdeka Center said the poll results reflected voters' expectations for the government to promote economic growth and address long-standing inflation and insufficient wage growth.

"Other issues that will influence public opinion include the form of a possible withdrawal of subsidies, new taxes, and reforms to the cash assistance system."

Poll: 72% not buying into government response to rising cost of living

In the past year since the unity government came to power, in addition to constantly emphasizing the fight against corruption and strengthening the rule of law, it has also launched the "Payung Rahmah" initiative to help people cope with the rising cost of living.

However, judging from the poll results, people seem to believe that the government still has room for improvement.

Among them, only nearly one-third of the respondents were satisfied with the government's efforts to boost the economy; as many as 72% of the respondents were dissatisfied with the government's measures to solve the cost of living problem; and less than 40% of the respondents agreed with the government's anti-corruption efforts.

As for the few things that people are satisfied with, it is the government's efforts to promote race relations, which 55% respondents agreed with.

How is the former prime minister’s popularity?

Before Anwar took office, the popularity of previous prime ministers had declined when they took office and left office, but the extent of the decline varied.

Mahathir, who served as prime minister for the second time, led the PH to achieve a change of government in the 2018 May 9 general election. In the early days of his tenure, the polls recorded a high of 83%. However, the PH government caused a lot of controversy during its 22 months in office, causing Mahathir's popularity to fall again and again. When he left office, it fell to 37%, the lowest point in five years, and plummeted by 46% during the period.

Muhyiddin, who came to power in the "Sheraton Coup", had a popularity rating of 72% two months after taking office. During this period, he was criticized for his management of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the political struggles that continued during the pandemic caused public resentment. His popularity dropped to 58% when he left office.

As for Ismail Sabri, his popularity was 50% at the beginning of his term in 2021, until it slightly dropped from 8% to 42% when Parliament was dissolved the following year.