A survey carried out by YouGov regarding people’s reactions to the National Day Rally speech that Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong delivered on Sunday, Aug 21, found that a majority of those polled had a positive response.
Moreover, it was respondents from Generation Z or those who were born between 1997 and 2001, were apt to say that they found the PM’s speech “relevant, convincing, interesting, and enjoyable.”
YouGov conducted the survey from Aug 22 to 23 and published its results on Wednesday (Aug 24).
Across respondents of all ages, 67 per cent said they found the speech to be relevant, 66 per cent said it was insightful, and 65 per cent found it to be interesting. 55 per cent of the respondents said it was convincing, and 47 per cent said it was enjoyable.
YouGov noted that when a similar study was conducted in 2015, respondents over the age of 55 tended to express the most positive responses to the speech.
When asked which of the different topics mentioned by PM Lee in the speech would affect them the most, 54 per cent identified economic challenges due to inflation and rising costs of living,
Meanwhile, 34 per cent said it was the lifting of the mask indoors mandate, and 32 per cent of the respondents said it is the repeal of Section 377A of the Penal code, which criminalises sex between men, that would have the next biggest impact on their lives.
Thirteen per cent of the respondents identified external danger and the resumption of work on Terminal 5 at Changi Airport and Tuas Port as the issues that would affect them the most, while 11 per cent said that the redevelopment of Paya Lebar Air Base and the coming initiatives to attract and retain foreign talent would have the biggest impact on them.
Only nine per cent named the development of the Changi East Urban District as the issue that would affect them the most.
As for how the respondents viewed the NDR speech, over four out of ten said they witnessed it in real time. Thirty-five per cent of these caught the TV broadcast, seven per cent saw it online and three per cent heard it on the radio.
Along with those who did not catch the speech live, 22 per cent read about it on the news. Three per cent listened to a later broadcast, and another three per cent saw it online later as well.
Eleven per cent of respondents said they intend to listen to the speech or watch a delayed broadcast later on, and eight per cent said they’d catch up on the speech on the news.
One out of every ten respondents said they did not listen or watch the speech, nor do they plan on doing so. When asked to cite the reason why, 62 per cent of these said they were too busy to do so. /TISG
Singaporeans top concern is high costs of living, post-NDR speech shows