Two-thirds approve of PM but less than half say country headed in right direction: Survey

A majority of Bangladeshi adults across all parts of the country and across even party lines approve of Prime Minister Tarique Rahman's performance in his first six months (180 days) in office, but confidence in the government and the country's overall direction lags significantly behind, according to the results of an approval rating survey unveiled Wednesday.

The survey, presented at a programme titled "Opinion Poll: First 6 Months of the Government" at the BIDA office in Agargaon, found that 66.3 percent of respondents approved of the Prime Minister's performance, against 21.6 percent who disapproved.

Approval of the government stood substantially lower though, at 54.5 percent.

Overall, less than half of respondents, just 48.6 percent, said the country was moving in the right direction, with 35.6 percent believing the opposite.

An approval rating survey differs from an opinion poll in that it measures public satisfaction with a specific leader or institution or issue using a single question (e.g., "Do you approve or disapprove?"), whereas generally opinion polls are a broader research tool that can ask multiple questions on various topics or different aspects of a certain subject. .

Doppler Opinion Research, which conducted the study, said the Computer Assisted Telephone Interview (CATI) survey drew on a panel of 10,413 samples from Innovision Consulting's People's Election Pulse Survey (PEPS) Round 2, conducted in September 2025.

Of those contacted, 3,443 respondents completed the survey, representing 489 wards and villages across all 64 districts. Results were weighted against 2022 census data, and the response rate was 33.1 percent.

The Prime Minister's approval rating remained consistent across demographic groups, ranging between 61.7 percent and 70.3 percent by age, sex, education and income, and staying above 62.3 percent in all eight divisions.

His support also extended across party lines, with 65.5 percent of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami supporters, 65.8 percent of National Citizen Party (NCP) supporters and even 52.5 percent of Awami League supporters rating him favourably. 

By contrast, views on the country's direction were sharply divided along political lines. While 65.5 percent of BNP supporters said the country was headed the right way, only 34.4 percent of Awami League supporters agreed, the lowest among all groups.

Regionally, the figure for those who thought the country was headed in the right direction showed some variation, ranging from 61.7 percent in Mymensingh to 38.7 percent in Khulna.

The survey also recorded its highest share of the "no opinion" option on this question, shooting to 15.8 percent.

Prices, electricity top public concerns

Asked to name the country's biggest problems without prompting, 59.5 percent cited electricity and fuel, and 59.1 percent cited the price of essentials, far, far ahead of the next one, which was law and order at 32.6 percent and employment at 30.8 percent.

The government drew its harshest marks on these same issues, with almost 90 percent, or 89.4 percent to be precise, rating electricity management poorly. It was followed quite closely by close to 80 percent, or 79.6 percent to be exact, citing fuel and gas. Compared to them, only 59.1 percent pointed to the rising prices of essentials.

Education was the only sector to receive a favourable verdict, with 70.6 percent rating it well.

Households cautious, but hopeful

The survey found 46.5 percent of households said they were worse off than a year ago, against just 17.5 percent who said they were better off.

Looking ahead, however, 38.1 percent expect improvement within a year, compared to 24.3 percent who said they expect conditions to worsen.

Nationally, 48.4 percent said they were more hopeful about the country's prospects than a year ago, while 39.0 percent said they were less hopeful.

Doppler cautioned that the findings reflect public expectations rather than actual improvement in living standards.

Strong backing for Family Card, tax policy 

The survey found robust support for specific government initiatives, with 78.6 percent backing the Family Card programme, 70.7 percent supporting the tax policy, and 70.0 percent favouring implementation of the referendum result.

On opposition leadership, 47.7 percent rated the performance of the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami Amir Shafiqur Rahman well, while 39.8 percent rated the NCP's Convener Nahid Islam favourably. Notably, over 32 percent and 37 percent of respondents respectively said they lacked sufficient information to judge Shafiqur and Nahid.

Perhaps the most unsurprising results of the survey can be found on the question of safety, where a clear gap was apparent not just on the basis of gender, but also religious faith.  While 70.9 percent of men said they felt safe walking alone after dark, for women this figure fell to 64.3 percent.

And although an overwhelming 95.2 percent of all respondents said they felt safe practising their religion openly, the community-wise breakdown ranged from 97.1 percent among Muslim respondents, to just 82 percent among Hindu respondents.

Commenting on the findings as a discussant, Asif Shahan, Professor of Development Studies at the University of Dhaka, said governments need periodic evaluation of their performance between elections, as public opinion must play a central role in shaping government priorities.

"This opinion poll is extremely important from this perspective. It shows that the government's honeymoon period is almost over and with this approval rating, the government has limited political capital to spend and needs to spend it wisely," he said, adding that the Prime Minister's high approval would come as a relief for the government.

The substantial discrepancy between the PM’s approval rating and that of the government overall (66.3 v 54.5), however, suggests his performance was "not necessarily being matched by the cabinet members," Prof Shahan observed.

He also pointed out that growing public concern over livelihoods, rampant extortion and declining law and order was giving rise to broader questions about governance, and going forward, urged the government to address these challenges effectively and efficiently.

Doppler Opinion Research (operating as Doppler Research Bangladesh Ltd) is an independent public opinion research organisation based in Dhaka. It evolved from the People's Election Pulse Survey managed by Innovision Consulting.