PETALING JAYA: Voter sentiment towards the Pakatan Harapan government has taken a slide following the handling of various contentious issues, a Merdeka Center survey found.

These include the Jawi lessons in vernacular schools, statements on civil servants' pension scheme and critical allowances.

The polls found that 61% of those surveyed believed that the country was headed in the wrong direction while only 26% felt it was moving on the right track.

Economic matters were the biggest concerns faced by Malaysians, followed by leadership, administration, politics and racial issues.

The survey also showed that Chinese and Indian voters prefer PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim over Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

A preference poll between Dr Mahathir and Anwar found that only 14% of Indian voters and 20% of Chinese voters as of November last year preferred the premier.

However, Dr Mahathir's support among the Malays showed an increase with 42% in October 2018 to 58% in November last year.

The survey noted that in July last year, the support for Dr Mahathir among the Indians dropped to 69%, however, there was a 4% increase in support for the premier from Chinese voters during the same period.

The support for Dr Mahathir among the Chinese voters then dropped to 22% in October and subsequently to 20% last November.

On the other hand, Anwar seems to be favoured more among the Indian and Chinese voters while his support among the Malay voters had dwindled.

The survey showed Anwar's support from Indian voters went from 23% in July last year to 62% in November the same year.

During the same period, Anwar also saw the support from the Chinese community rise from 18% to 58%.

However, his popularity among Malay supporters dropped drastically throughout 2019, from 31% in October 2018, to 13% in November last year.