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SINGAPORE: In the midst of a pandemic election, voters focused on the COVID-19 crisis and the issue of livelihoods. But they also expressed the need for diverse opinions in Parliament.
These were among the findings of a post-election poll conducted by the Institute for Political Studies (IPS) released on Thursday (Oct 1), which said that the government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic in Singapore was among the top issues. that he cared. voters in the 2020 general election, while jobs, the cost of living and the need for different views in Parliament increased in importance.
The Singapore Policy Perception survey, which ran from July 11 to August 21, found the need for good and efficient government to be the primary concern of voters in GE2020, just as it had been in the last two elections.
With the 2020 elections being held amid the COVID-19 outbreak, a new item on crisis management was added to the study, which analyzed the opinions of 4,027 citizens. It found that 89 percent of all respondents said that “the government’s handling of the COVID situation” was “important” or “very important” to them.
Compared to the 2015 findings, three issues were more on the minds of voters, with a higher proportion saying they were “very important” to them; it was about the employment situation, the cost of living and the need for different opinions in Parliament.
The issue of employment and the cost of living was “particularly relevant” for people ages 30 to 54, and those of low and middle income, according to the study.
This suggests that the issue of sustainable livelihoods affected the vote of respondents of working age and low- to middle-income households, according to the research team led by Dr. Gillian Koh, IPS deputy director of research.
“They are the ones who are in danger of losing their jobs … they feel a sense of income and job insecurity and that may have affected the way they voted in these elections,” said Associate Professor Tan Ern Ser from the Department of Sociology of the National University. from Singapore, who is part of the research team.
The need for different points of view in Parliament was important to the youngest respondents aged 21-29, the middle class, PMETs and holders of degrees and diplomas. This suggests that political ideals were important, particularly for the young and educated, the research team said.
“Both sets of considerations were developed in GE2020 but between different groups of voters.”
The other team members are Dr. Teo Kay Key, a postdoctoral fellow at the IPS Social Lab, as well as Research Associate Mr. Damien Huang.
MORE LOWER INCOME VOTERS SEE THE NEED FOR CHECKS AND BALANCES
In contrast to previous years, the survey found an increase in support for more diverse voices in politics among those in the lowest household income group and those with post-secondary education.
To measure this, respondents were asked if they saw the need for checks and balances in Parliament, if it was important to have opposition politicians elected in Parliament, and if the electoral system was fair to all political parties. The “pluralists”, who tend to agree with such statements, have generally been younger and come from the higher income groups and those with tertiary education.
The researchers said they sought to answer the question of whether support for political pluralism would return to its upward trend after a slide in 2015. The Popular Action Party (PAP) won GE2020 with a vote share of 61.2 percent, a variation of almost 9 points from 69.9% in 2015, but it was better than the historical low of 60.1% in the 2011 elections.
Party leaders have attributed the drop in support to the economic challenges of COVID-19, as well as the desire for more diverse voices (pluralism) among the electorate.
READ: GE2020: PAP will do more to win back the support of middle-aged voters in financial pain, says Lawrence Wong
The IPS poll found that there was a large drop in the proportion of people in the “conservative” category, who see no value in political pluralism, from 44.3 percent to 18.5 percent. The increase in the proportion of people in the category of “pluralists” went from 18% to 22.4%.
Most of those polled, or 59.2 percent, belonged to the “Swing” category: these are voters with mixed opinions. In contrast, there were fewer “Swing” voters in 2015, at 37.8%.
“What is a surprising finding, to me, is that probably after all the speech about representation and more voices of opposition, we actually had a much higher proportion, more than half of the respondents who were in the ‘Swing ‘compared to the’ Pluralist Group ‘, said Dr. Teo at a press conference held earlier.
What was also different this year was the 7.2% increase in the number of people in the S $ 0 to S $ 1,999 income band who identified as “pluralist” and an 8.2% increase in those. with post-secondary education (JC / ITE). The effects of the “bread and butter problems” at this end of the socioeconomic spectrum were specific to the difficult economic conditions surrounding GE2020, the research team said.
Said Dr. Koh: “Somewhere within the low to lower middle income band, you will find that respondents… felt that the employment situation that arose from the COVID-19 pandemic was really challenging their sense of security. Some may have responded feeling that they may want to support, you know, checks and balances and various voices in Parliament and thus may have explained the shift in support for the PAP and the political opposition.
CHARACTER MATTERS MORE THAN CREDENTIALS
The study also looked at how credible voters thought the parties were, the importance of online campaigns in this election, and what traits they valued in candidates.
For the candidates, honesty was the most important, while being a “fair person” and being “hard-working or committed” was also important.
“It seems that credentials and contributions seem to matter a lot less now, compared to character,” Associate Professor Tan said. “I think what seems to matter the most is … if they are considered honest and impartial.”
READ: GE2020 – PAP credibility down, WPs up from previous polls, says IPS post-election poll
READ: Facebook, CNA and YouTube were the channels voters turned to in the 2020 ‘online’ general election: IPS survey
The researchers also highlighted that this year’s survey was conducted through three different channels: landline, mobile phone, and the Internet, while previous surveys were conducted only by landline.
Compared to other respondents, online respondents were more likely to be pluralistic and less likely to say that the PAP government had run the country well or that their lives had improved since GE2015.
“They considered fairness in government policy to be a priority and also turned to a broader range of communication channels,” said Dr. Teo.
There were no differences in the credibility of party ratings among respondents who were reached through different methods.
