45% Singaporeans 'hopeful, confident, happy' with Lawrence Wong as PM: Poll - Singapore News

Source: The Independent
Author: Anna Maria Romero

SINGAPORE: The country is about to get a new Prime Minister, and a good portion of Singaporeans are feeling good about it, according to a new poll from YouGov. Across all ages polled, the majority expressed their expectations from the incoming PM.

20 per cent said the news made them feel "hopeful," while 13 per cent said it made them feel "confident." Almost as many (12 per cent) said it made them "happy," and 9 per cent said they were surprised to hear the news.

Between April 18 and 20, 2024, YouGov surveyed over 1000 Singaporean adults from the age of 18 onward on Mr Wong taking on the role of Prime Minister and published its results on Wednesday (April 24).

The response to the announcement of Mr Wong's swearing-in has been positive, although a sizable percentage of respondents said they had no reaction to the news.

Across generations, Baby Boomers (18 per cent) expressed the most confidence in Mr Wong.

While 36 per cent of the respondents had no reaction to the news, the number of Millennial respondents with this response (40 per cent) was the highest.

When asked about their expectations of Mr Wong, Baby Boomers (43 per cent) and Gen Z (41 per cent) had the highest number of respondents, saying they had "a lot of expectation" from him, although the result is pretty consistent across all generations.

On the whole, over three-fourths of the respondents (76 per cent) said they had "a lot of expectation" (38 per cent) or "some expectation" (38 per cent) from the incoming Prime Minister, with 13 per cent saying they had "little to no" expectations from him.

More than half of the survey participants (53 per cent) said that they considered Mr Wong competent, with Gen Z having the highest number of respondents expressing this sentiment (63 per cent).

A sizable 40 per cent overall said he is trustworthy, while 37 per cent characterised him as likable. Twenty-eight per cent perceive him as honest, while the same number say he is a strong leader.

Twenty-one per cent of respondents, meanwhile, consider Mr Wong to be charismatic.

"While men and women are equally likely to associate all the listed traits with Wong, the youngest members of the population seem to have a positive perception of him and are more likely than others to attribute all the qualities to him," YouGov said.

PM Lee Hsien Loong said in 2012 that he hoped to hand over the leadership of Singapore by the time he turned 70 years old in 2022, though this was delayed due to the COVID pandemic.

Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat bowed out of contention in April 2021, and PM Lee later announced that he would be handing over leadership to Mr Wong before the next General Election, which must be held by November next year.

Last week, the Prime Minister's Office announced that Lawrence Wong would be sworn in as Prime Minister on May 15.

/TISG