President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) approval rating has dipped below 50 percent for the first time since she was sworn in on May 20, with her disapproval rating increasing to almost 40 percent, according to a poll published by the Taiwan Indicators Survey Research yesterday.
The poll, conducted on Thursday and Friday among people aged 20 and above, found that the percentage of people who expressed satisfaction with Tsai’s performance has declined from 50.2 percent in late May and 54.6 percent in late June to 45.5 percent.
Her disapproval rating rose from 32.3 percent in last month’s poll to 39.8 percent.
Photo: Chiu Chih-jou, Taipei Times
When Tsai was sworn in, only 16.3 percent of respondents said they were dissatisfied with her performance, the poll said.
Asked if they have confidence in Tsai, 49.2 percent of those polled said “yes,” a drop of about 10 percentage points from 59.3 percent in the May survey.
The percentage of respondents who do not have confidence in her rose from 20.5 percent to 32.5 percent.
Premier Lin Chuan’s (林全) disapproval rating surpassed his approval rating for the first time, at 40.4 percent and 37.3 percent respectively, the poll showed.
Lin’s disapproval rating in the May survey was 17.4 percent, while 44.8 percent of respondents approved of his performance.
The survey indicated that respondents are divided on the performances of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers, who hold 68 of the legislature’s 113 seats.
Forty percent of respondents said DPP lawmakers’ performance was satisfactory, while 44 percent said otherwise.
Despite the numbers, the public seems to be more satisfied with the general performance of the Tsai administration than they were with former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) government after its first three months in office in 2008.
The research center also compared its latest poll results with a survey conducted by the Chinese-language monthly Global Views between Aug. 12 and Aug. 15, 2008, to gauge public evaluations of the Ma administration’s performance.
In 2008, 47.6 percent of respondents were dissatisfied with Ma’s performance, while 36.1 percent said they were satisfied.
The approval and disapproval ratings for Ma’s first premier, Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄), were 34.2 percent and 45.9 percent respectively, according to that poll.
Respondents to the magazine’s poll were unhappy with Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators, who occupied 81 seats in 2008, with about 54 percent of those surveyed saying they were not content with the lawmakers’ performance, while 26.3 percent approved.
The poll released yesterday collected 1,003 valid samples and has a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points.
A Chinese freighter that allegedly snapped an undersea cable linking Taiwan proper to Penghu County is suspected of being owned by a Chinese state-run company and had docked at the ports of Kaohsiung and Keelung for three months using different names. On Tuesday last week, the Togo-flagged freighter Hong Tai 58 (宏泰58號) and its Chinese crew were detained after the Taipei-Penghu No. 3 submarine cable was severed. When the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) first attempted to detain the ship on grounds of possible sabotage, its crew said the ship’s name was Hong Tai 168, although the Automatic Identification System (AIS)
An Akizuki-class destroyer last month made the first-ever solo transit of a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ship through the Taiwan Strait, Japanese government officials with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. The JS Akizuki carried out a north-to-south transit through the Taiwan Strait on Feb. 5 as it sailed to the South China Sea to participate in a joint exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces that day. The Japanese destroyer JS Sazanami in September last year made the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s first-ever transit through the Taiwan Strait, but it was joined by vessels from New Zealand and Australia,
SECURITY: The purpose for giving Hong Kong and Macau residents more lenient paths to permanent residency no longer applies due to China’s policies, a source said The government is considering removing an optional path to citizenship for residents from Hong Kong and Macau, and lengthening the terms for permanent residence eligibility, a source said yesterday. In a bid to prevent the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from infiltrating Taiwan through immigration from Hong Kong and Macau, the government could amend immigration laws for residents of the territories who currently receive preferential treatment, an official familiar with the matter speaking on condition of anonymity said. The move was part of “national security-related legislative reform,” they added. Under the amendments, arrivals from the Chinese territories would have to reside in Taiwan for
CRITICAL MOVE: TSMC’s plan to invest another US$100 billion in US chipmaking would boost Taiwan’s competitive edge in the global market, the premier said The government would ensure that the most advanced chipmaking technology stays in Taiwan while assisting Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) in investing overseas, the Presidential Office said yesterday. The statement follows a joint announcement by the world’s largest contract chipmaker and US President Donald Trump on Monday that TSMC would invest an additional US$100 billion over the next four years to expand its semiconductor manufacturing operations in the US, which would include construction of three new chip fabrication plants, two advanced packaging facilities, and a research and development center. The government knew about the deal in advance and would assist, Presidential
RSS