About 80% of people polled said they would vote on Feb 2 if the polls go ahead, and the majority opposed another military coup, even if anti-government rallies turn violent, Bangkok Poll said on Friday.
The pollster at Bangkok University reported the results of a survey on “the Election amidst Political Conflict”, interviewing 1,018 people, aged 18 and over, nationwide between Jan 21 and 23.
Asked whether the ongoing political turmoil has an effect on their plans to votes in the Feb 2 polls, 52.6% of the respondents admitted it has had an impact, Bangkok Poll reported.
Of this group, 34.3% said they would wait and see the situation before making a decision on whether or not to turn out and 18.3% said it discourages them from voting.
Meanwhile, 47.4% said it the turbulence has no effect at all -- 23.4% of this group said they would definitely go to cast their votes and 24% said they felt they must turn out as it is their duty under the democratic system.
Asked whether they would turn up to vote if the election does take place on Feb 2, a high 79.6% of the polled people said yes, only 9.9% said they would not and 10.5% were unsure.
Asked if the Feb 2 election should go ahead, 51.5% of them said the polls should go ahead, 28.1% said there should be national reform before an election and 20.4% said the scheduled election should be postponed.
Asked whether they would agree if the situation escalates to violence and more death and injuries and the armed forces decide to stage a coup, 56% said they disagreed, 21.6% said yes and 22.4% were unsure.