BANGKOK, 30 May 2011 – People do prefer policies of the Pheu Thai Party than the ones presented by the Democrat Party, according to a recent survey by the National Institute of Development Administration (NIDA).
The survey was conducted with 1,234 respondents across the nation in various educational levels and professions from 24 to 25 May 2011. The respondents were questioned about populist policies of political parties and related aspects.
In terms of populist policies, the Pheu Thai Party received the highest popularity with support from 25.45% of the respondents, followed by the Democrat Party with 18.33% of the respondents. However, 7.86% of the respondents did not find populist policies of any political parties interesting.
Asked about populist policies that they wanted the most, 46.19% of the respondents wanted product prices in control. In addition, 40.28%, 33.79% and 32.41% of the respondents asked for minimum wage rise, income guarantee scheme and increasing access to education respectively.
Asked who received the highest benefit from populist policies, 38.09% of the respondents thought that politicians would get the most benefits, followed by people at 26.18%. The rest sharing the slices of the cake were influential groups and private companies.
On the question which political parties that people would get the most benefits from their populist policies, 45.54% of the respondents were not sure. Meanwhile, 26.09% supported the Pheu Thai Party and 17.99% sided with the Democrat Party.
Asked for the reasons why some populist policies were ineffective, 35.09% of the respondents blamed corruption while 15.40% and 15.24% of the respondents named poor management and lack of cooperation from public organisations as the major causes respectively.
