The government's rice pledging scheme comes first among the five top-most factors which have caused the government's popularity to decline, Suan Dusit Poll reveals.
The poll was conducted between July 9-13 on 1,449 people throughout the country to gauge their opinions on the government's policies and achievements made during the past two years in office.
Asked what they thought has caused the government's popularity to decline, the rice-pledging scheme came first with 47.13% of the respondents, followed by corruption in various government projects with 14.56%, high prices of goods and difficult times 13.79%, the government's handling of the South problems 12.64%, and the 2.2 trillion baht loan scheme 11.88%.
On the government's outstanding achievements, the 15,000 baht salary for bachelor's degree graduates and 300 baht minimum wage came first with support of 38.14% of the respondents, drug suppression with 19.49%, re-introduction of the 15,000 baht rice-pledging price with 16.95%, first-car project with 15.25%, and transport system development and high-speed train projects with 10.17%.
Asked to mention what is worrying them most in Thai politics, 35.63% of the respondents mentioned divisiveness and conflicts among politicians, 31.49% corruption, 13.81% constitutional amendment, 12.15% a possible coup, and 6.92% the fast-changing political situation.