Govt loses much of its shine

One and a half years into power, the government looks to lose much of its shine with fewer people seeing the country moving in the right direction. Also, fewer people are satisfied with the government.
The number of dissatisfied people has also increased sharply who take a dimmer view of the economy.
These indications became clear when a The Daily Star Nielsen opinion poll conducted at the end of the government's one and a half years in power was compared with two previous polls conducted when the government completed its first 199 days and then again after one year.
The recent poll after the one and a half years in power was conducted among 3,000 respondents in 44 districts across the country. The survey was done in early August.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's rating also dipped during the 18 months although she still enjoys a good chunk of support.
On the other hand, Opposition Leader Khaleda Zia's rating improved during the time although she still lags far behind Hasina in terms of respondents satisfied with her role.
According to the comparison of the three surveys, less people now think the government had well managed the issue of price inflation than they thought 18 months ago.
But more think the issue was poorly managed.
When the government came to power, a small fraction of people (only 6 percent) identified power and gas supply as the issue that needs the government's greatest attention. Today, that number has quadrupled, showing that people are frustrated with the power situation.
At the same time, a much lower number of fewer people think the government had taken enough initiatives to resolve the power crisis, and more people think no initiatives had been taken.
The survey reveals that more people now consider the judiciary as politically biased that they did when the government came to power. Concurrently, fewer people think judiciary as independent.
The government also fared poorly on two more vital issues corruption and the role of the Anti-corruption Commission (ACC). The number of people who think corruption has increased has increased quite drastically while the number of those who think it has decreased has shrunk slightly. Also, the number of people who took a negative view of the ACC has doubled in the last 18 months.
The survey also revealed that more people now hold the opinion that the opposition should attend parliament without any pre-condition. The percentage of the respondents who think like this is quite high at 81 percent.
The BNP seems to have recovered slightly its image in the last one and a half years. A less number of people take a negative view of the opposition and a larger portion take a positive view.
Respondents were asked which party they would vote for if elections are held right now. It appeared that AL would win such an election by a big margin. However, a large number of respondents (25 percent) did not respond. This large segment might be the swing voters who could still tilt the result of an election.