Only 15 percent of people approve of Musharraf's job performance

I think thats about right b/c Q-league’s approval rating is around 12%. :smiley:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/10/AR2008021002236_pf.html

Musharraf’s Approval Rating Plummets
Poll Finds Opposition Parties Could Win Two-Thirds in Next Week’s Parliamentary Vote

By Griff Witte and Robin Wright
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, February 11, 2008; A09

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Feb. 10 – A week before Pakistanis vote in parliamentary elections, President Pervez Musharraf’s popularity has hit an all-time low and opposition parties seem capable of a landslide victory that could jeopardize his efforts to cling to power, according to a poll to be released Monday.

The poll found that just 15 percent of Pakistanis approve of Musharraf’s job performance, exactly half the number who expressed approval in November. The two main opposition parties, meanwhile, had the backing of a combined 72 percent of those surveyed.

If Musharraf’s allies do not succeed in rigging the election results in their favor, such broad-based support could give the opposition enough seats in the new parliament for the two-thirds majority needed to impeach the president.

“If a coalition of revenge gets a two-thirds majority, he’s done. Absolutely done,” said C. Christine Fair, a senior political analyst at the Rand Corp. research institution.

The poll results are the latest in a series of troubling indicators for Musharraf. In recent months, he has suspended the constitution, fired many judges on the Supreme Court and engineered a legally dubious reelection in his quest to stay in power.

While the constitution has since been restored, Musharraf’s repeated crackdowns against political opponents, the judiciary and the mass media have turned the public adamantly against him. A year ago, most Pakistanis supported him. Now, three-quarters say they want him to resign.

“I don’t know if his numbers could go any lower,” said Robert Varsalone, country director for the International Republican Institute, the nonprofit, U.S.-based organization that conducted the poll. “He’s probably at his floor.”

Varsalone and another staffer for the institute, which includes prominent Republicans on its board, were forced to leave Pakistan last week after the government failed to renew their visas. The group has released a series of polls charting Musharraf’s decline and has come under intense government pressure as a result.

The poll of 3,845 adults was conducted Jan. 19-29 and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 1.69 percentage points.

There are widespread fears in Pakistan that Musharraf and his allies will rig next Monday’s vote. But the institute’s poll indicated that that could be a perilous step. A majority of those surveyed said they would back protests against the government if Musharraf’s party is announced as the winner. Only 14 percent said they planned to vote for the main pro-Musharraf party, the Pakistan Muslim League-Q.

Party spokesman Tariq Azim Khan conceded that it may lose seats next Monday but said Musharraf’s allies would reap the benefits of incumbency and predicted that the PML-Q “will still be the single largest party” after the elections.

The institute’s poll strongly indicates otherwise. The Pakistan People’s Party, long led by Benazir Bhutto, appears to have gained substantial support since the former prime minister was assassinated in December. Half of those surveyed said they planned to vote for the PPP, with the next highest total, 22 percent, going to an opposition party led by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

Such support could give the PPP and Sharif a powerful coalition, should they choose to work together against a president both have often condemned.

The institute’s poll calls into question the belief of U.S. officials that the elections will produce a hung parliament, with power divided among the three major parties as well as a handful of smaller ethnic and religious parties. In an interview Friday, a senior U.S. intelligence official predicted that no two opposition parties would get the 66 percent necessary to impeach Musharraf or change the constitution.

Musharraf remains “very strong” and the “key political figure” in Pakistan, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The United States has steadfastly backed Musharraf over the past year, even as many Pakistanis have begun to look beyond him.

“Even before Benazir’s assassination there was a strong and growing feeling that Musharraf had run his course,” said Isobel Coleman of the Council on Foreign Relations. “People are generally fed up with him and with the state Pakistan is in right now.”

In addition to his heavy-handed tactics, Musharraf has been hurt by rising inflation, electricity shortages and surging violence among Islamic extremists.

Musharraf is not the only one whose popularity has been damaged: Support in Pakistan for al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden has fallen from 46 percent in August to 24 percent now, according to a separate poll released Sunday.

The survey, conducted by the U.S.-based nonprofit group Terror Free Tomorrow, found that the Taliban has experienced a similar drop, with support at 19 percent, half of what it was last summer.

Islamic extremists have dramatically escalated their campaign of terrorism over the past six months, and there are deep concerns in Pakistan that the violence could worsen ahead of next week’s vote.

Re: Only 15 percent of people approve of Musharraf's job performance

i think most of these 15% are on this board :)

Re: Only 15 percent of people approve of Musharraf's job performance

And so the cycle shall continue....the same political parties will be thrown out of office after another 3/4 years by another coup when the public starts to perceive them as being corrupt, incompetent and totally useless....the military rulers will too be deemed eventually utterly incompetent, and we'll return to "democracy" again...gosh, its totally screwed up!

Re: Only 15 percent of people approve of Musharraf’s job performance

Mashallah. I thought it was less than 5%. :hehe:

Re: Only 15 percent of people approve of Musharraf's job performance

I doubt that unless you count Aalsi as 15%. :D

Re: Only 15 percent of people approve of Musharraf's job performance

:D

Re: Only 15 percent of people approve of Musharraf's job performance

Only the continuation of democratic process under the great leadership of President Musharaf will achieve success for Pakistan. Otherwise the cycle will indeed continue.

Re: Only 15 percent of people approve of Musharraf's job performance

Mashallah unprecedented hatred against the dictator:D

Re: Only 15 percent of people approve of Musharraf’s job performance

The democratic process of firing judiciary, shutting down media without following a process, barring someone from entering other cities, not persecuting criminals of May 12, pardon criminals of liking, yes that is all democratic process :k:

Re: Only 15 percent of people approve of Musharraf's job performance

Whatever. Opposition isn't getting many seats. The elections are rigged, and everyone knows it. Furthermore, the western powers know it too. Everyone is doing drama baazi as usual. Musharraf stays - he's the only one who is remotely qualified to be a leader out of all the barely-english speaking candidates out there, and he's least likely to stuff money down his pocket and he's most likely to be sympathetic to Western calls for cutting down on terrorism.

Kisi aur mein tapar nahi hai.

Naach lo jitna naach na hai. He'll be out when the US says he's out.

Re: Only 15 percent of people approve of Musharraf's job performance

First things first, English is not a criteria for leadership skills, unless you desire someone more marketable in Western media.

[quote]

** Kisi aur mein tapar nahi hai.

** Naach lo jitna naach na hai. He'll be out when the US says he's out.
[/quote]

of course, who else can "fight" army :).

Lastly, he is not even contesting elections, so he shouldn't even be considered as "leader" or compared against the competing politicians.

Re: Only 15 percent of people approve of Musharraf's job performance

Ehtesaab, the comment was made that if an opposition party comes sweeping into power, then they could have enough seats to oust Musharraf. My response was to that comment.

Speaking English is absolutely necessary for both President and Prime Minister - they hold offices which require them to interact globally. A very common language used globally is English. If you don't have a proper grounding in it, then forget it. You have to be able to communicate. Simple.

Re: Only 15 percent of people approve of Musharraf's job performance

What about French? Chinese? German? We always have services of "translators", so English should not be a "basic' requirement, instead should be considered a bonus feature.

Re: Only 15 percent of people approve of Musharraf's job performance

A statesman should not need a translator for English! Major politicians around the world from many countries speak impeccable English. This is inexcusable. French, Chinese, and German are not used as frequently in international diplomatic talks. However, almost everyone has good control over their English and therefore have their talks and international meetings in English.

Now, I don't see any reason why a Pakistani statesman shouldn't know some proper Italian and Chinese and French, etc as well. Heck, throw in some Arabic too.

In many countries (successful ones), the politicians were trained in multiple languages growing up - its considered an indispensible political asset.

Really, I thought this was common sense to everyone.

Re: Only 15 percent of people approve of Musharraf's job performance

^ Problem with "such" common sense is that it can filter out lots of potential candidates (not that I have a list of them :D) but even the lota list being prepped up by Mush for "future" govt is full of people who can hardly speak Urdu (their national language).

When problem of "leadership" plagues a "nation" then speaking a "faaran" language should be least of a worry.

Re: Only 15 percent of people approve of Musharraf's job performance

All these polls are nothing but BS propaganda, paid by past corrupt politicians and their parasite supporters. Anyhow, the article itself tells a lot about the nature of the poll, that it is nothing but propaganda :)

Just imagine:

[quote]
The poll of 3,845 adults was conducted Jan. 19-29 and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 1.69 percentage points
[/quote]

Now, there are 272 'NA' constituencies in Pakistan. There are around 80 million plus registered voters (yes ... 80,000,000 plus voters). Each constituency has 100s of thousand voters. Now, according to this report, it is poll of 3845 adults, and that mean 14 voters per constituency. Now, this survey that conducted poll using a sample of 14 adults per constituency of around 300000 voters, consider this poll as having margin of 1.69 percent error ... what a BS :)

Well, above statement itself shows that the poll is nothing but many Tons of smelly BS. :)

Re: Only 15 percent of people approve of Musharraf's job performance

^ okay, so you don't take ANY poll seriously at all, no value? All the science that goes behind it is BS as well?

Re: Only 15 percent of people approve of Musharraf's job performance

Agreed! otherwise how could the inflated 15 % be achieved.. Musharaf rating has down nosed to less than 5 %.

Re: Only 15 percent of people approve of Musharraf's job performance

Lagtaa hay aap ko 'facts behind the poll' pasand nahie ayea :)

Re: Only 15 percent of people approve of Musharraf's job performance

Bhai, what I wrote is scientific fact, that is, a poll of 14 adult per constituency that has around 350,000 to 400,000 voters, conducted by goons of corrupts are meaningless :)

One can use few thousand in poll to find out certain aspect of a country, but to determine an election result or popularity of a party or individual, where 10s of different parties are contesting election, and where each household have many voters who can vote differently too, than this sample number in a country with 170 million people, becomes meaningless.