Phumtham rejects popularity poll, saying they are not always right
A recent Nida Poll finds Pheu Thai trailing several points behind the Move Forward Party in public approval ratings
Commerce Minister Phumtham Wechayachai shrugged off the results of a public opinion survey, saying even popular pollsters like Nida Poll can be wrong.
The poll apparently showed that the ruling Pheu Thai Party was trailing far behind Move Forward in popularity ratings.
Phumtham, who also doubles as deputy prime minister, backed his claim by citing Nida Poll’s prediction on the election of Pathum Thani Provincial CEO on Sunday.
On June 16, Nida Poll of the National Institute of Development Administration predicted that incumbent Khamronwit Thoopkrachang would win the CEO election. It said that 31.87% of the respondents said they would vote for Khamronwit, while 28.68% said they would go for Pheu Thai’s candidate Charn Puangphet.
On Sunday, however, Charn beat Khamronwit narrowly by 805 votes. He had garnered 192,287 votes versus his opponent’s 191,484 votes.
Phumtham was responding to reporters, who approached him for a comment on the latest popularity rating survey conducted by Nida Poll.
On Sunday, Nida Poll said its survey found that Move Forward enjoyed a popular rating of 49.2%, much higher than the Pheu Thai’s 16.85%.
“Didn’t Nida Poll say Khamronwit would win the election? So who won?” Phumtham asked the reporters back.
He said opinion surveys may serve as guidelines but the results may not be totally accurate.
“Pollsters cannot read people’s minds,” he concluded.
