LAHORE: The International Republican Institute survey has found that PML-N’s popularity has increased from 28 percent in July-August to 32 percent in November while the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s (PTI) standing has come down from 24 percent to 18 during the same period..
According to the survey carried out in November 2012 and released on Januray 22, it is revealed the popularity of the PPP and PML-Q is stable at 14 percent and 2 percent respectively compared to their standing in July-August 2012 — also 14 percent and 2 percent respectively.
Balochistan is the only province where the PPP’s popularity showed an upward trend while its allies the PML-Q is also losing popularity and could secure only two percent votes. Moreover, a majority of the people opposed the southern Punjab province.
The survey further revealed that the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa has gained popularity which stands at 32 percent. The PML-N also gained popularity from 9 percent to 12 percent, and the JUI (F) also has also become more popular in the province.
In Punjab, once again the PML-N is the most popular party at the moment and its popularity graph has increased from 43 percent to 49 percent, while the PPP also gained popularity from 7 percent to 8 percent, while the PTI’s popularity graph is at 19 percent.
The IRI survey showed that in Balochistan, the popularity of all the political parties increased except the PTI. The popularity of the PML-N has increased from 8 percent to 13 percent, the PPP from 5 percent to 18 percent, JUI (F) from 4 to 8 percent.
In Sindh, the PPP’s popularity has declined from 39 percent to 32 percent and that of the PML-N increased from 6 percent to 8 percent, MQM from 11 percent to 16 percent. The popularity of the PTI is 9 percent and the PML-Q’s is only one percent.
The survey further found that 32 percent Pakistanis considered inflation as the biggest problem in Pakistan, whereas 20 percent
considered unemployment as the number one problem.
