PM’s popularity above 50% but government’s rating falls in November

Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra retained her popularity rating at over 50%, but her government’s performance indices for November fell from the previous month, an opinion survey found.

The political-index survey by Suan Dusit University (Suan Dusit Poll) for November found that several performance indices of the government were lower than those in October.

Suan Dusit Poll conducted the survey among 2,078 respondents nationwide from November 25 to 29 and announced the results on Sunday.

The respondents were asked via field and online surveys to rate the performance of the government and the opposition on 25 indices on a scale of 1 to 10. The 25 indices were compiled into the Thai political index, which dropped in November to 4.92 from 5.01 in the previous month.

The 25 indices included: 

• Opposition performance: 5.24, a drop from 5.34
• PM’s performance: 5.25, down from 5.27
• Public safety: 4.89, down from 5.00
• Enforcing policies: 5.29, up from 5.14
• Government’s performance: 5.18, up from 5.13
• Political stability: 5.03, down from 5.10
• Tackling corruption: 4.52, down from 4.71
• Solving unemployment: 4.49, down from 4.69
• Solving poverty: 4.45, down from 4.67
• Cracking down on drugs and outsider influence: 4.39, down from 4.58.

● Asked to name their favourite coalition politicians, the respondents named:

- Paetongtarn: 50.66%
- Anutin Charnvirakul, interior minister: 28.96%
- Jiraporn Sindhuprai, PM’s Office minister: 20.38%

● The three favourite opposition politicians were:

- Natthaphong Ruengpanyawut, People’s Party leader: 43.80%
- Sirikanya Tansakun, People’s Party MP: 31.72%
- Parit Wacharasindhu, People’s Party MP: 24.48%

● Asked to cite the best accomplishments of the government in November, the top three answers were:

- 37.5%: 2nd phase of 10,000-baht handout
- 33.3%: Measures to help small and medium-sized enterprises
- 29.2%: Co-payment scheme to promote tourism in the North.