More than half of voters remain undecided about their picks in the March 24 election, but among those who are, Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha is the top pick for prime minister and Pheu Thai the top party, according to Bangkok Poll.
The survey released on Saturday also showed the Democrat Party and its standard-bearer, Abhisit Vejjajiva, in fourth place.
The Future Forward Party led by 40-year-old billionaire Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit performed strongly, placing second on the party table and third among PM picks. But political analysts are uncertain whether it has the network, especially outside Bangkok, to turn that support into seats on voting day.
Gen Prayut also led a Nida Poll released on Friday and based on interviews with 2,091 people done between Feb 5 and 7. The prime ministerial candidate of the Palang Pracharath Party was the first choice of 26% of the respondents, followed by Khunying Sudarat Keyuraphan of Pheu Thai (24%). Another 12% were uncertain while Mr Abhisit was endorsed by 11.4%.date (4.5%).
Asked about the party they wanted to lead the government, 36.5% chose Pheu Thai, followed by Palang Pracharath (22.6%), Democrat (15.2%), Future Forward (8.2%) and Seri Ruam Thai (5%).
In another survey released on Saturday, Super Poll Research Centre said a majority of its respondents wanted “a capable person who can solve bread and butter problems” as prime minister.
Super Poll conducted interviews between Feb 1 and 15 with 1,093 respondents from all occupations throughout the country.
The poll found that 56.1% of respondents wanted a capable person who could ease economic hardship, particularly bread and butter issues, to be their prime minister. Some 8.3% said their prime minister must be a politician, while 7.4% favoured a military officer to lead the government.
Other respondents gave various choices including academics, political activists and legal experts. However, 21.4% said they had not yet made a choice. Some said they were fed up with politics and those who focused on image building.
Two-thirds of respondents said they often followed election news, 30.5% did not follow it often and the remaining 3.1% seldom followed it.
Noppadon Kannika, director of Super Poll, said the survey showed that most respondents would cast ballots on March 24 and that they favoured a prime ministerial candidate with capability to solve economic hardship through concrete policies.
