Majority of Liberians have approved President George Weah’s performance since he assumed office in January 2018.
They, however, rated the government poorly on economic management, a new Afrobarometer survey shows.
The highest approval rating for Mr Weah was among the political elites.
The survey was conducted in June, at a time when Liberian dollar was alarmingly depreciating, resulting in price hikes and worsening economic conditions in the country.
Key findings
Fifty-six per cent of Liberians “approve” or “strongly approve” of President Weah’s job performance.
His rating is the best among political leaders, followed by mayors, 47% and county superintendents, 44%.
The country’s senators received the lowest performance rating of 39%.
In specific key areas, 70% of Liberians approve of Mr Weah’s handling of national security issues, 57% domestic policy issues and 55% foreign policy issues.
About half or more of Liberians, 59% say the government is performing “fairly well” or “very well” in addressing educational needs, 52% maintaining roads and bridges, 51% providing water and sanitation services and 49% improving basic health services.
However, only one-third (34%) of citizens say the government is performing fairly or very well in managing the economy and creating jobs, and just one in 10 (12%) say it’s doing a good job of keeping prices stable.
The most important problems that Liberians want the government to address are rates and taxes (55%), food shortage/famine (38%), and infrastructure/roads (38%).
Two-thirds (66%) of Liberians say the government is addressing the most important problems “fairly badly” or “very badly”.
The Afrobarometer
Afrobarometer is a pan-African, non-partisan research network that conducts public attitude surveys on democracy, governance, economic conditions, and related issues in Africa.
Afrobarometer conducts face-to-face interviews in the language of the respondent’s choice with nationally representative samples.
The Afrobarometer team in Liberia, led by The Khana Group, interviewed 1,200 adult Liberians in June 2018. A sample of this size yields country-level results with a margin of error of +/-3 percentage points at a 95% confidence level.
Previous surveys have been conducted in Liberia in 2008, 2012, and 2015.
Source: Africafeeds.com
