A majority of people believe if there is to be an election now the ruling Pheu Thai Party would be the winner, according to Abac Poll.
The poll was conducted between Oct 14-20 on 2,073 people in 17 provinces to gauge public opinion on weak points and strong points of the two major political parties - Pheu Thai and the Democrats.
To the question of which party they thought would be the winner if there was an election now, the majority, or 63.4 per cent, were for Pheu Thai and 36.6 per cent for the Democrats.
The respondents said Pheu Thai were more preferable than the Democrats in terms of:
- Attention on public problems (Pheu Thai 53.7 per cent - Democrats - 46.3 per cent);
- Policies towards the public (Pheu Thai 63.8 per cent - Democrats - 36.2 per cent);
- Responsibility to the public (Pheu Thai 54.3 per cent - Democrats - 45.7 per cent); and,
- Responsiveness to public needs (Pheu Thai 66.7 per cent - Democrats - 33.3 per cent).
The majority, or 68.5 per cent of the respondents, were of the opinion that Pheu Thai had more problems over internal rifts than the Democrats (31.5 per cent).
Asked if the Democrat Party was ready to have a new leader other than Abhisit Vejjajiva, 70.7 per cent said "no" and 29.3 per cent said "yes". Of those who said "yes", most or 42.8 per cent were for Abhirak Kosayodhin, 35.1 per cent for Korn Chatikavanij, 2.2 per cent for Chuan Leekpai, and the rest for others.
As for the Pheu Thai Party, with the exception of Yingluck Shinawatra, most or 53.7 per cent were for Pol Gen Priewpan Damapong, 21.6 per cent for Khunying Sudarat Keyuraphan, 15.5 per cent for Chalerm Yubamrung, 4.9 per cent for Chaturon Chaisaeng, and 4.3 per cent for others.