A small survey by the independent Merdeka Centre research firm found just 6 percent of respondents believed the allegations, and nearly 60 percent viewed it as politically motivated.
"It's going to be an uphill battle for the government because you are facing a more cynical public," said the firm's pollster, Ibrahim Suffian. The survey polled 225 ethnic Malays aged 20 and above.
A separate survey by the independent news website, Malaysiakini (www.malaysiakini.com), showed that 94.4 percent of its respondents believed the allegation was part of a political conspiracy against Anwar.
The political uncertainty dragged the stock market lower again, with the benchmark Kuala Lumpur Composite Index down 1.7 percent at the midday break. The index has lost about 3 percent so far this week.
Ratings agency Fitch, which has a positive outlook for Malaysia's foreign currency rating and a stable outlook for the local currency, said it was monitoring the impact of the political situation on economic policies.
"The concern that we have would be that the political situation begins to affect the policy outlook. There is not really much evidence of that just yet," James McCormack, head of Asia sovereign ratings at Fitch, told Reuters.
"It appears to us there is a political transition of sorts under way in Malaysia. The question is how fast does that move and how significant is it. And I think some of those answers are still unclear," he said.
