Concerns Shift From Corruption Towards Socioeconomic Factors Ahead Of Malaysia's GE15

Malaysia is heading into the 15th general election (GE15) with a better assessment of the direction in which the country is going relative to the moods before GE14, a recent Ipsos survey showed.

• "While corruption remains a top concern among Malaysians, socioeconomic worries such as inflation and poverty are more prominent ahead of GE15. Worries about both corruption and crime & violence have dropped significantly compared to the leadup to GE14," Ipsos said in a statement.
• The survey showed that the proportion of people concerned about inflation has exceeded the share of voters concerned about COVID-19 in June and the gap has been widening as a trend since then. The level of concern about inflation is currently at a record high.
• The latest batch of opinion polls have shown the opposition Pakatan Harapan alliance take the lead over the ruling Barisan Nasional, albeit the nature of Malaysia's electoral system and this particular election (single-seat constituencies, many multi-cornered races) prevent drawing definitive conclusions about the expected results.
• Caretaker Prime Minister Ismail Sabri brushed away the implications of survey results, calling them "propaganda" and accusing pollsters of partisanship.

Fig. 1: Concerns Have Shifted Towards Socioeconomic Factors: Ipsos

Source: Malay Mail/Ipsos