The People’s Action Party (PAP) was viewed as “cold” and “out of touch” the most to voters compared to the Workers’ Party (WP), Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) and Progress Singapore Party (PSP), the Blackbox Research’s survey revealed on Thursday (16 July).
The ruling party retained power by winning 61.2 per cent of the popular vote share in the General Election (GE), but its support took a sharp fall. The WP, on the other hand, attained two GRCs – Aljunied GRC and Sengkang GRC.
Reflecting on the GE results, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said on 14 July that “the percentage of the popular vote is not as high as [he] had hoped for”.
“Singaporeans want the PAP to form the government, but they, and especially the younger voters, also want to see more opposition presence in Parliament,” said Mr Lee, adding that the results also showed a “clear desire” for a diversity of voices in Parliament.
The PAP was viewed as by far the most organized and competent during the election campaign, based on a survey of voter intentions published by the Blackbox Research on Thursday, but the Party was characterised as “cold” and “out of touch” to voters as well.
Blackbox conducted two polls – 1 to 2 July and 7 to 8 July – in which the total sample was 1,507 respondents combined. It noted that the outcomes of the survey were gathered using a geographically stratified online sample and quota controls.
According to the survey, about 40 per cent of voters had viewed PAP as arrogant, while the WP, SDP and PSP each garnered only 10 per cent of votes as being arrogant to voters.
PAP also garnered the highest votes for being “cold” (30%) and “out of touch” (28%) to voters, compared to the other three opposition parties who each garnered less than 10 per cent of votes.
“PAP organisation and competency were strong suits but PAP also more likely to be viewed as cold and out of touch,” Blackbox asserted.
Blackbox stated that the ruling party dominated both the online space and on the ground presence during the campaign period which largely contributed by its superior resources.
“While voters were more likely to label the PAP as reliable and organised, the WP were characterised as passionate and hardworking, while the PSP lived up to their ‘newbie’ status and were characterised as fresh, interesting and friendly,” it added.