Independent survey finds cautious optimism over Bangladesh government’s first 100 days

A new public opinion survey on the first 100 days of Bangladesh’s democratic government has found cautious optimism among respondents, with confidence in the administration’s future exceeding satisfaction with its performance so far.

The survey of 720 participants (conducted online through a set of questionnaire) gave the government an overall performance score of 5.28 out of 10, suggesting a public mood that is neither strongly approving nor deeply dissatisfied.

Only 17.4% of respondents rated the government highly, giving it scores between eight and 10, while 24.9% gave low ratings of between one and three.

The survey was conducted by Dr Khandakar Al Farid Uddin of Western Sydney University in Australia and Dr Faysal Kabir Shuvo, research fellow at the Sydney Policy and Analysis Centre.

Its findings were released on Tuesday, August 11.

A notable gap emerged between perceptions of Prime Ministerial leadership and assessments of the government’s overall delivery.

The Prime Minister’s leadership received an average score of 5.75, nearly half a point above the government’s overall score of 5.28.

Expectations for the future were higher still.

Confidence in the Prime Minister’s future performance averaged 5.90, the highest among the headline indicators, while confidence in the government’s future performance stood at 5.64.

The results suggest that respondents are giving the administration more credit for its perceived direction and leadership than for what state institutions have delivered during its first 100 days.

The picture becomes more uneven when individual sectors are examined.

Education emerged as the strongest-rated policy area with an average score of 5.63, closely followed by foreign relations and global positioning at 5.59.

At the other end of the table, law and order and public safety received an average score of just 4.08, making it the weakest-performing area among the figures released by the researchers.

Energy management scored 4.52, while the economy, investment, employment and cost of living received 4.65.

The results put public safety and economic pressures at the centre of respondents’ concerns about the administration’s early performance.

The survey also found dissatisfaction over corruption control and administrative effectiveness, although the material released by the researchers did not provide numerical scores for those areas.

Researchers said the results point to a gap between confidence in political leadership and satisfaction with institutional performance and public-service delivery.

That distinction could become increasingly important as the government moves beyond its opening months and faces greater pressure to translate political commitments into measurable improvements in security, prices, employment and governance.

The researchers also collected written responses from 238 participants, offering a glimpse into the issues shaping those assessments.

Law and order, corruption, inflation and employment repeatedly appeared in the comments.

A smaller but distinct group of respondents raised broader questions about political and institutional reform, including the July Charter, independence of the police and judiciary, and discipline among political actors at the local level.

The findings suggest that public safety and economic well-being are among the most important immediate tests facing the government.

The relatively stronger scores for leadership and expectations about future performance, however, indicate that respondents have not written off the administration after its first 100 days.

Instead, the survey points to a window of public patience accompanied by demands for faster delivery.

Whether that cautious optimism holds may increasingly depend on progress in the areas where respondents are least satisfied: law and order, inflation and living costs, energy management, corruption control and the effectiveness of state institutions.

The researchers described the study as an independent assessment of public perceptions across 14 governance and policy areas.

--