Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra remains more popular than opposition leader Abhisit Vejjajiva but her lead has shrunk by nearly five percentage points following the no-confidence debate in Parliament, according to the latest poll, Bangkok Post online reported on Saturday.

The Research Centre at Bangkok University surveyed 1,120 respondents in two periods: from October 30 to November 2 and from November 28 to 30. The aggregate result showed Yingluck was chosen by 51.2 percent of respondents and former premier Abhisit, the Democrat Party leader, by 33.1 percent.

In the first survey, taken after the second cabinet reshuffle by her government last month, the premier's popularity was 52.6 percent but it dropped to 48.7 percent after the censure debate. Abhisit rose to 33.7 percent after the debate, from 32.8 percent in the first poll.

The censure debate, launched by the leading opposition Democrat Party, took place on November 25-28. All the ministers, including the premier, survived the no-confidence vote.

The gap between Yingluck and Abhisit is now 15 percentage points, compared with 19.8 points a month earlier.

When respondents were asked about the popularity of political parties, the ruling Pheu Thai received 48.8 percent support and the Democrats 34.8 percent.

About 61 percent of respondents also said they were confident that the Yingluck-led government would be able to stay in power until the end of its full four-year term, while 11.8 percent believed the government would last longer than two years but would not reach three years.