Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Nawaz Sharif has the highest approval rating of any public figure in Pakistan, according to the latest survey from the Pew Research Center released on Tuesday.
At 66 percent, Sharif has gained four percentage points from the last Pew poll in 2012.
“Sharif is particularly well liked in Punjab province (78 percent),” Pew noted in the report.
Nawaz is followed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan, who is the only real electoral threat to Sharif on May 11, when Pakistan’s 86.2 million registered voters get to elect representatives to the national and four provincial assemblies.
Khan’s approval rating is 60 percent, down 10 points from last year.
“Khan’s drop has been especially steep among 18- to 29-year-olds, his strongest supporters in 2012 (63 percent favorable in 2013 vs. 76 percent in 2012),” the report said. His fall and hospitalisation on May 7 could provide him a sympathy bump, the poll noted.
The army chief General Ashraf Kayani is in third place with an approval rating of 45 percent, nine points lower than last year. He is followed by Pakistan’s Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, who has shed eight points from last year, with an approval rating of 43 percent.