Poll Results
KUALA LUMPUR, 27 November 2020 – A recent survey conducted by UCSI Poll Research Centre indicated that the majority of respondents agreed that the opposition should support the 2021 Budget for it to be approved.
57.92% (600 respondents) from a total of 1,036 respondents chose ‘Yes’ while another 42.08% (436 respondents) said ‘No’.
The 600 respondents who chose ‘Yes’ agreed that the Budget was inclusive and beneficial to the public (62.2%). 53.8 % and 50% of the respondents stated that any delay in approving the Budget would affect the much-needed support to the front liners and will slow down the recovery of our economy.
Meanwhile, 42.2% of the respondents admitted that they would benefit from the 2021 Budget and 22.7% agreed that any delay of the 2021 Budget approval may cause political unrest.
For the other 436 respondents who chose ‘No’, it was indicated that the 2021 Budget failed to take care of the interest of all relevant parties (58.5%) and the Government should take the suggestions from opposition parties (55.3%).
31.9% said that the 2021 Budget was over-promising and cannot materialise while 28% of the respondents said that they will be benefit from the Budget. Another 22.5% stated that it is needed for them to have a new government.
In the same survey, the first suggestion from the opposition that is agreed by 56.5% of the respondents is the expansion of social protection, safety net and welfare payments for the vulnerable and unemployed by increasing the monthly welfare aid to RM1,000 as promised by the Prime Minister in Sandakan on 30 August costing RM12 billion until the end of the COVID-19 crisis. Meanwhile, the second suggestion chosen by the respondents (55.4%) was the continuation of the wage subsidy until 31 March 2020 and creation of 600,000 job opportunities as per Malaysia@Work scheme offering incentives over two years for employers and employees costing RM13 billion.
Another suggestion chosen by the respondents (53.4%) was to increase the budget for the Ministry of Health (MOH) in combating the COVID-19 as well as the Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) with special allocation to tackle the COVID crisis in Sabah.
Another three suggestions by the opposition were the extension of the bank loan moratorium until 31 March 2021 involving a total cost of RM6.4 billion (39.7%), to increase the education budget to ensure education continuity (30.1%) as well as the development expenditure on two key projects – the National Fiberisation Connectivity Plan (NFCP) and upgrading water infrastructure in Selangor, Kelantan and Pahang (19.3%).
The results of this survey were also analysed according to the respondents’ demographic factors whereby 62.3% of the respondents are from semi-urban areas, 65.3% from the rural areas and 52.2% from the urban areas chose ‘Yes’ for the opposition to support the 2021 Budget.
As for their household income, 60.5% of the respondents who chose ‘Yes’ have a household income of RM4,850 – RM10,959 (M40), 57% with a household income of more than RM10,960 (T20) and 56% earn a household income less than RM4,849 (B40).
About UCSI Poll Research Centre The UCSI Poll Research Centre (UCSI-PRC) is a public opinion research company owned by the UCSI Group. Its main objective is to utilise original and scientific research methodologies to investigate and analyse public opinions and attitudes.
