Home Latest News Majority Ready to Support ‘Honest’ New Political Party: Gallup Pakistan

Majority Ready to Support ‘Honest’ New Political Party: Gallup Pakistan

PTI chief Imran Khan emerges as most popular politician in latest Public Pulse Report

by Staff Report

File photo courtesy PTI

A Public Pulse Report released by Gallup Pakistan on Monday found a majority of Pakistanis willing to support a new political party with “honest” members, with the highest percentage of voters ready to leave their party for an alternative emerging from the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

Compiled as a result of a survey of 1,760 adult men and women, the Gallup Pakistan report covers all major provinces, weighted in accordance with provincial populations, and has an error margin of +/- 3-5 percent at 95 percent confidence level. It was conducted from Feb. 1 to Feb. 21 and includes respondents from both rural and urban areas, as well as all educational levels and over-18 age groups.

Responding to a question on whether they would be willing to support a new political party comprised of “honest political members and technocrats,” a majority of respondents—53 percent—said they would leave their current party and vote for the new one instead. According to Gallup, the highest proportion of people willing to support a new party were aged 50 and above, while 8 percent more men than women were also in favor of it. “Surprisingly among political party voters, highest percentage of voters ready to leave their party to such a party were found in PTI where the figure was 52%,” it added.

Approval ratings

The survey found that PTI chief Imran Khan remains the most popular leader in Pakistan, with 40 percent of respondents saying they had a “very good” opinion of the ousted prime minister, followed by 21 percent who said they had a “good” opinion; 18 percent “bad”; 19 percent “very bad” and 2 percent who had no opinion. Khan’s highest support was from Punjab, with 29 percent of respondents from the province having a favorable rating of him, followed by 28 percent in Sindh; and 14 percent in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

By contrast, Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) leader Nawaz Sharif had 14 percent of respondents saying they had a “very good” opinion of him; 22 percent “good”; 23 percent “bad”; 36 percent “very bad” and 4 percent with no opinion. Of the respondents, residents of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa had the most negative opinion of the former prime minister. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, president of the PMLN, secured opinions of “very good” at 11 percent; “good” 21 percent; “bad” 27 percent; “very bad” 38 percent; and 3 percent who had no opinion. He is least popular in Sindh province.

PMLN Senior Vice-President Maryam Nawaz, who is also the party’s chief organizer, has similar findings to the elder Sharifs. She secured “very good” public opinions of 9 percent; 25 percent “good”; 27 percent “bad”; 34 percent “very bad”; and 6 percent with no opinion.

Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, also the foreign minister in the incumbent government, secured 11 percent “very good” opinions; 25 percent “good”; 31 percent “bad”; 26 percent “very bad”; and 6 percent with no opinion. His father, former president Asif Ali Zardari, has “very good” ratings from 7 percent of respondents; 20 percent “good”; 30 percent “bad”; 37 percent “very bad”; and 6 percent with no opinion.

Pakistan Democratic Movement President Maulana Fazlur Rehman, who also heads his own faction of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, has “very good” ratings from 8 percent of respondents; 23 percent “good”; 25 percent “bad”; 32 percent “very bad”; with 12 percent of respondents saying they have no opinion of him.

Khan and Sharif

The Public Pulse report also sought the public’s opinion on the PTI’s decision to dissolve the Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa assemblies, as well as their thoughts on whether or not Nawaz Sharif should return to Pakistan. Of the respondents, 57 percent supported Khan’s decision, while 43 percent opposed it. Similarly, 61 percent of respondents believe Sharif should return to Pakistan from London “immediately” while 39 percent do not believe he should return. Additionally, 91 percent of PMLN voters believe he should return.

The survey found that a majority of Pakistanis—62 percent—blame the incumbent government for the prevailing economic crisis, with 1 in 5 respondents claiming they or someone in their household had lost their job in the past six months. By contrast, just 38 percent of Pakistanis blame the ousted PTI-led government for the current economic crunch.

The survey comes ahead of elections for the Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa assemblies, which were dissolved by the PTI in mid-January in a bid to pressure the federal government into proceeding toward general elections. Delayed beyond the 90-day deadline for conducting elections in light of a Supreme Court ruling, polls in Punjab are now set to take place on April 30. There has, as yet, been no announcement on when polls would be conducted in KP.

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