Singaporeans top concern is high costs of living, post-NDR speech shows

While many Singaporeans said they felt ‘optimistic’ or even ‘hopeful’ after Prime Minister Mr Lee Hsien Loong’s National Day Rally speech on Sunday (Aug 21), increased costs of living are still their biggest concern.

Nevertheless, many tend to believe that the country’s economic situation will improve, a poll taken after the speech by Milieu Insight says.

One of the highlights of the speech had been PM Lee announcing that Section 377A of the Penal Code, which criminalizes sex between men, would be repealed.

Among the Singaporeans polled, nearly half (46 per cent) said they were generally neutral toward the repeal. Over a third of the respondents (34 per cent) said they supported the decision from the Government, and only one-fifth (20 per cent) said otherwise. 

Milieu Insight’s results show that the speech left many listeners in a positive mood, with 37 per cent saying they felt ‘hopeful’ and 35 per cent saying they felt ‘optimistic.’ 

Those who reported that they felt ‘anxious’ ‘nervous’ or ‘stressed’ were in the single digits.

When it comes to the key concerns that Singapore is facing where respondents could indicate more than one choice, 90 per cent indicated ‘increase in cost of living’ while 47 per cent chose the ‘looming economic recession.’ The ‘aging population’ (44 per cent), ‘US/China tensions’ (41 per cent) and and ‘climate change’ (39 per cent) rounded out the top five key concerns.

As for the issue of removing the mask mandate for indoor spaces,  61 per cent of the respondents to the poll said they supported this, and nearly half (47 per cent) said that the timeliness of this decision is “just right.”

However, 28 per cent expressed the opinion that the removal of masks may come too early.

And while 47 per cent of those polled said they believed that removing the mandate to wear masks indoors would make the Covid-19 situation worse, nevertheless, 91 per cent said expressed confidence in the ability of the Government to handle the pandemic situation.

On the geopolitical front, more than 4 out of 5 of those polled (81 per cent) said they feel that the Government has been doing a good job in handling the tensions between the United States and China.

“As Singapore continues to make progress towards an endemic, our latest poll suggests that Singaporeans and residents are adapting well to this, with concerns of a new Covid-19 strain ranking well below other concerns such as increase in cost of living, looming economic recession and even climate change. 

Despite these concerns, we’re glad to observe that people are largely hopeful and optimistic – there is high confidence in the government’s ability to lead the country’s recovery efforts, and many are also expecting the economic situation to improve a year from now,” said Gerald Ang, the CEO of Milieu Insight. /TISG

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