PTI Chairman Imran Khan is “positively rated” among 61 per cent of Pakistanis, whereas only 36 per cent have a “good opinion” about PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif and Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, according to a survey titled Public Pulse Report published by Gallup Pakistan on Monday.

The survey was conducted with around 2,000 respondents covering all four provinces, and urban and rural areas.

It said that the error margin for such a survey was around 3-4pc at 95pc confidence level.

According to the report, Imran received a positive rating from 61pc of the population while 37pc rated him negatively.

Further, 29pc from Punjab, 28pc from Sindh and 14pc from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa gave him a positive rating — the highest amongst the provinces for any politician.

On the other hand, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was rated negatively by 65pc of Pakistanis while 32pc gave him a positive rating. However, people from Punjab rated him more positively as compared to other provinces.

The data showed that almost three in five (59pc) gave his sibling Nawaz a negative rating while 36pc gave him a positive rating. Moreover, respondents from KP rated the PML-N supremo more negatively than people from other provinces.

As for Foreign Minister Bilawal, 36pc rated the PPP chairman positively while 57pc gave him a negative rating. Of all the provinces, he got most positive ratings from Sindh.

PML-N Senior Vice President Maryam Nawaz, however, was rated negatively by 61pc while 34pc gave her a positive rating. “People from Punjab see her in a positive light as compared to other provinces,” the survey showed.

Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman received a negative rating by 57pc while only 31pc gave him a positive rating. He received the least negative ratings from citizens from KP.

Former president Asif Ali Zardari was rated negatively by 67pc while 27pc rated him positively.

“Since 2022, Zardari has gained a more favorable opinion amongst the Public Pulse Report population. However, people from Punjab gave him the most negative ratings, followed by KP and then Sindh,” the survey said.

Other findings

The survey also noted that majority of the respondents, 62pc, blamed the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM)/PML-N for the current economic crisis while only 38pc blame the previous PTI government.

“It does not come as a surprise that an overwhelming majority of those who put the blame on PDM/PML-N had voting intentions for PTI and vice versa,” the survey said.

As far as unemployment was concerned, 21pc reported that someone in their household has lost their job in the last six months.

The survey also said that 53pc of Pakistanis would leave their current party and vote for a new party if the latter had “honest political members and technocrats”.

“The highest proportion of people who said they would leave their current party and vote for the new, honest party were people aged 50 and above. Moreover, 8pc more males than females favored voting for the new party with honest political members,” the survey said.

“Surprisingly, among political party workers highest percentage of voters ready to leave their party for a new one were found in PTI where the figure was 52pc,” it added.

It added that 61pc of the respondents were in favour of Nawaz’s immediate return to Pakistan. The highest proportion of people in favor of the ex-premier’s return were from KP (67pc), followed by Punjab (64pc).

Regarding the PTI chief’s decision to dissolve the Punjab and KP assemblies, 57pc supported the decision.

“Of those who said that they support his decision, majority (83pc) intend to vote for PTI, while only 24pc of PML-N supporters think that Imran Khan’s decision to dissolve the assemblies and hold new elections is right,” the survey said.