A survey conducted to mark the six-month anniversary of the BNP government asked how well or badly Prime Minister Tarique Rahman was doing his job. In response, 66.30 per cent of respondents said the Prime Minister was doing his job well. This assessment was almost identical across groups based on age, sex, schooling and household income.
Even among supporters of Jamaat-e-Islami, the main opposition party in parliament, 65.50 per cent said the Prime Minister was doing his job well. The figure was 65.80 per cent among supporters of the opposition National Citizen Party (NCP) and 52.50 per cent among supporters of the Awami League, whose activities have been banned.
The findings were revealed in the Approval Rating Survey 2026 conducted by Doppler Opinion Research and released at an event at the Multipurpose Hall of the BIDA Building in Agargaon, Dhaka, on Wednesday afternoon.
The survey also found a somewhat different picture when respondents were asked about the government’s overall performance. As many as 54.50 per cent said the government was doing its job well, while 32.90 per cent said it was doing badly.
The Doppler survey also asked whether Bangladesh was overall going in the right direction or the wrong direction. In response, 48.60 per cent said the country was going in the right direction, while 35.60 per cent said it was going in the wrong direction. Another 15.80 per cent did not answer.
Among BNP supporters, 65.50 per cent said the country was going in the right direction, compared with 44 per cent of Jamaat supporters and 55.20 per cent of NCP supporters. The figure was lowest among Awami League supporters, at 34.40 per cent.
The BNP government formed through the 13th parliamentary election held on 12 February completed 180 days, or six months, last Sunday. Doppler conducted the public opinion survey to mark the occasion.
The research organisation, which emerged from Innovision Consulting, recently contacted by telephone 10,413 people who had participated in an Innovision survey in September 2025. Of them, 3,443 took part in the Doppler survey. The sample represented 489 sampling units—one ward or village—across all 64 districts of the country.
Opposition leaders’ ratings
The survey asked how Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Shafiqur Rahman, the Leader of the Opposition, and NCP Convener Nahid Islam, the Chief Whip of the Opposition, were doing their jobs in parliament.
In response, 47.70 per cent gave a positive rating to Shafiqur, while 39.80 per cent gave a positive rating to Nahid. While 52.90 per cent of men rated Shafiqur well, the figure was 42.80 per cent among women.
Meanwhile, 43.80 per cent of men rated Nahid well, compared with 36 per cent of women.
Support for NCP Convener Nahid Islam was highest among those aged 18 to 29, at 46.70 per cent, and lowest among those over 60, at 30.70 per cent.
The survey also found that 32.10 per cent of people said they did not know enough about Shafiqur Rahman to give an opinion, while 37.20 per cent said the same about Nahid Islam.
Concerns over food and fuel prices and electricity
The survey asked respondents what they considered to be the biggest problems facing the country, without reading out a list.
In response, 59.5 per cent of respondents mentioned electricity and fuel, while 59.10 per cent mentioned the high prices of essential commodities. Law and order ranked third at 32.60 per cent, followed by employment at 30.80 per cent.
The government’s performance was rated worst on the same two issues that respondents named most often as the country’s biggest problems.
According to the survey, 89.40 per cent said electricity was being handled badly by the government. On fuel and gas, 79.60 per cent said the government was handling the issue badly, while 69.10 per cent gave a negative rating for the handling of food prices. There was little variation in these assessments by division, income or schooling.
The Doppler survey found that 46.50 per cent of respondents said their household’s financial situation had become worse compared with a year ago, while 17.50 per cent said it had become better.
As many as 38.10 per cent expected their household’s financial situation to be better in the next 12 months, while 24.30 per cent expected it to be worse.
Regarding the country’s future, 48.40 per cent said they were more hopeful than a year ago, 39 per cent said they were less hopeful and 6.20 per cent said nothing had changed in the country.
Safety and religious freedom
According to the Doppler survey, 67.50 per cent of people feel safe walking alone in their area after dark. The figure was 70.90 per cent among men and 64.30 per cent among women.
In addition, 95.20 per cent of people said they feel safe practising their religion and observing their customs openly. While 97.10 per cent of Muslim respondents said they felt safe, the figure was 82 per cent among Hindus and 81.10 per cent among Buddhists and Christians.
Support for Family Card, tax policy and referendum result
The survey findings showed that 78.60 per cent of people support the government’s Family Card, while 70.70 per cent support the government’s tax policy.
In addition, 70 per cent of respondents said the government should implement the referendum result.
Ratings of MPs
Asked how likely their local Member of Parliament (MP) would be to listen if they took a problem to the MP, 50.90 per cent of respondents said it was likely.
Meanwhile, 35.90 per cent said it was unlikely that their MP would listen to them.
Following the release of the findings, a panel discussion on the survey was held at the event. The discussion was attended by Asif Mohammad Shahan, professor of Development Studies at the University of Dhaka; Ashik Chowdhury, executive chairman of Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA) and Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (BEZA); AKM Fahim Mashrur, founder of Bdjobs.com; Rubaiyath Sarwar, managing director of Innovision; and Faridul Haque, joint member secretary of NCP.