Public judges government on economy, not politics: Suan Dusit Poll

The rising cost of living, including the high costs of energy and consumer products, is top of most Thai people’s concern, followed by household and personal debt, according to a Suan Dusit Poll by Suan Dusit University.

The poll results are based on field and online interviews of 1,143 samples conducted between May 12th and 15th.

The poll shows 77.97% of the respondents are concerned about the cost of living, while 63.78% admitted they are concerned over that and the debt problem.

According to the poll, 46.89% of the respondents predict that the economic outlook in the next three months is worse, while 32.81% believe the economic situation will remain unchanged.

Meanwhile 12.33% of the respondents have high expectations for the government’s performance, 31.16% have some expectations and 23.45% have no expectations at all.

It showed 44.44% are concerned over public debt stemming from the government’s loan decree seeking 400 billion baht in borrowing from domestic source, 13.65% doubt the worthiness of the ‘Co-payment Plus’ scheme, while 11.81% are concerned about the Thai-Cambodian border conflict.

Ngamprawan Ehsomnuk, dean of the School of Law and Politics at Suan Dusit University, said the poll results reflect that the performance of today’s national administration is not being measured by majority votes in parliament, but by its efficiency in addressing economic problems and its credibility.

Most people do not immediately reject the government, but will wait to see how it performs. Thai society, over the past many years, has been used to promises from politicians which are, eventually, broken or turn out to be empty.

She also said that the poll is an indication that the people are increasingly attaching importance to the efficiency of administration rather than political popularity.