Background

In general, Cambodia still lacks scientific findings on its people’s socio-political attitudes. To address this, the goal of this research is to provide scientific, unbiased public opinion poll findings that generate an understanding of Cambodian citizens’ political and societal attitudes, priorities, and future expectations on various topics such as outlook on life, civic engagement, media consumption, international relations, the environment, and gender in the country. On a much-needed note, this quantitative study intends to provide scientific input for social scientists and scholars, paving the way for further interpretation and a more in-depth study into why and how Cambodians believe and feel about various social and political topics in the country.

WHAT DO CAMBODIANS THINK? – 2022: A Survey of Cambodians’ Attitudes Toward Society and Politics is The Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung’s second public opinion poll on Cambodian perspective toward different social and political aspects of Cambodia.

This nationally representative survey, a follow-up to polls conducted in 2020, provides a real assessment and better understanding of the attitudes and priorities of the Cambodian public that may contribute to Cambodia’s current social and political environment. The 2022 survey repeated various questions from the prior surveys to measure the changes in the opinions of Cambodians on certain socio-political topics over the last two years. Some questions from the 2020 survey were removed, and they were replaced by parts on the environment and gender, in addition to new questions being added in the media and civic engagement sections of the 2022 survey.

This survey was based on 1,000 phone call interviews with Cambodian citizens between the ages of 18-64 across all provinces in Cambodia. The survey was commissioned by Konrad-Adenauer–Stiftung Cambodia and data was collected by Spear Insights. Its findings are clustered around the following topics:

1. Daily Life 

COVID-19 has had a negative effect on Cambodian’s lives, but things are beginning to improve as restrictions lessen and life returns to normal. In the previous study, COVID-19 was taking most effect on Phnom Penh residents, yet in 2022, Phnom Penh residents are looking most hopeful towards the future. However, the economy, rising gas and commodity prices, and recession loom over the population as 47% report this concern in an unprompted open question.

2. Media Consumption

Social media and the internet continue to grow in importance with a 9% increase in Cambodians using social media and 10% increase in internet news being used as the primary news source since 2020.

3. Civic Engagement

University graduates showed the most interest in politics with 74% ‘a little’ or ‘a lot’ interested compared to only 43% of those with primary or no formal education. Compared to 2020, there was a reduction in the likelihood of people voting in the next election, this result ultimately matched that of the lower voter turnout in the 2022 commune elections.

4. International Relations 

China remains being viewed as Cambodia’s closest and best partner, possibly owing to the donation of more than 10 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines up to June 2021. ASEAN was known by around half of the respondents and knowledge of it increased along with education levels.

5. The Environment

More than two-thirds of Cambodian’s reported caring ‘very much’ about the environment. Younger and more educatedCambodian’s reported caring more about the environment than other demographics. It is hopeful that the younger generations have greater concerns than that of the older generations.

6. Gender

Eighty-two percent of Cambodians suppose that men and women are equal. However, slightly more people believe that men have an advantage over women.

Complete findings and reports can be downloaded from the upper right corner of this page.