Just over one-third of Thais are still undecided whether they will support the government once they have received 10,000 baht under its flagship stimulus handout scheme, according to an opinion survey by the National Institute of Development Administration, Nida Poll.
The poll was conducted nationwide on Oct 1-3, with 1,312 respondents aged 18 and over of various levels of education and occupation.
To the question of whether they would give political support to the Pheu Thai-led government after they or their family members have received the 10,000-baht handout under the digital wallet scheme, the answers varied as follows:
34.35% of the respondents said they were not sure and had not decided yet
30.31% said the handout scheme could be a partial reason for them to support the government
20.38% said they already supported the Paetongtarn Shinawatra administration, with or without its handout scheme.
13.13% said they did not support the current government no matter what they did
1.83% did not know or were not interested
Asked what the respondents planned to spend the 10,000-baht cash handout on, the answers were as follows:
86.79% daily expenses (including utility bills and petrol)
16.49% saving for future expenses
14.35% repaying debt
13.59% health-related expenses (e.g., buying medicines, seeing a doctor)
8.24% buying goods for reselling
7.48% education expenses
1.37% purchasing electrical appliances
1.07% buying underground/ government lottery tickets
0.99% buying mobile phones/ IT devices
0.69% entertainment purposes (e.g., partying, buying alcohol or cigarettes)
0.31% travel
0.15% buying gold/ jewellery
0.99% didn’t answer