A majority of people want the new cabinet under Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha to do away with corruption in the spending of public money for state projects, according an opinion survey by Suan Dusit Rajabhat University, or Suan Dusit Poll.
The poll was carried out on July 10-13 based on interviews with 1,188 people to gauge their opinions on the new cabinet, national strategy and the government's policy statement to be delivered to parliament on July 24-25.
Asked what political problems they want the new cabinet to tackle, 56.3% mentioned corruption in spending on various projects; 33.9% want it to avoid persecution and smear campaigns; 25.9% said it should quickly bring about reforms to make politics truly democratic; 17.1% want individual ministries to produce concrete achievements, and 14.4% said it should not resort to use of dictatorial power.
Asked about economic issues, 64% of respondents said they want the cabinet to control prices of consumer goods and push for an increase of salaries and labour wages; 43.3% want it to improve farm prices and spur exports; 34.2% want it to push for megaprojects and income distribution; 20.5% say it should delay increasing taxes and various fees; and 18.4% want it to to create confidence in the Thai economy among foreigners and solve the problem of the strong baht.
Asked about social problems, 61.5% said they want the cabinet to tackle the problems of drugs, crime and safety of life and property; 57.1% want it to improve the people's quality of life; 22.7% want it to get rid of social inequality; 21.9% say it should instill discipline and law-abiding awareness among people, and 19.3% want it to solve environmental problems.