President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) “honeymoon” period is ending, the Taiwan Public Opinion Foundation said yesterday, citing its latest poll, which found a drop of nearly 20 percentage points in Tsai’s approval rating since her inauguration on May 20.
The telephone-based survey showed that 52.3 percent of respondents expressed satisfaction with Tsai’s handling of national matters, a 17.6 percentage point decline from three months ago.
The percentage of respondents dissatisfied with her performance climbed 24.4 percentage points from 8.8 percent in May to 33.2 percent.
“It appears that a downward trend in Tsai’s approval rating shows no sign of stopping. As such, we can say the president’s honeymoon period is about to end,” foundation chairman You Ying-lung (游盈隆) told a news conference in Taipei.
Respondents gave Tsai a score of 61.28 out of 100 for her performance as president over the past three months, which the foundation said indicates that the public believes there is much room for improvement and could “flunk” Tsai if she does not try harder.
Regarding cross-strait issues, 51.4 percent said they were content with Tsai’s handling of the nation’s relations with Beijing, despite the indefinite stagnation of cross-strait ties, compared with 39.6 percent who felt otherwise.
Comparing the survey with the May poll, which found that nearly 70 percent of respondents approved of Tsai’s refusal to recognize the so-called “1992 consensus,” the foundation said the public’s views on cross-strait ties have apparently changed, adding that Tsai’s administration should not take the matter lightly.
The so-called “1992 consensus,” a term former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) admitted making up in 2000, refers to a tacit understanding between the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Chinese Communist Party that both sides of the Taiwan Strait acknowledge there is “one China,” with both sides having their own interpretation of what “China” means.
Topping the list of areas in which respondents expressed satisfaction with Tsai’s performance were international affairs with a 56.5 percent approval rate, followed by pension reform (55.9 percent), national defense (48.8 percent), judicial reform (48.2 percent), the economy (45.9 percent) and labor policy (40.7 percent).
However, respondents were divided on whether the president has lived up to her pledge to have “the most communication-friendly government,” with 47 percent support against 47.2 percent opposition.
The survey also showed a lack of public consensus on the abolition of the controversial Special Investigation Division (SID), with 43 percent of those polled in favor of keeping the agency, while 37.4 percent called for it to be immediately disbanded.
While Tsai’s honeymoon period is coming to an end, the results indicated that respondents were willing to give the president “the benefit of the doubt,” National Sun Yat-sen University political science professor Liao Da-chi (廖達琪) said.
Chinese Culture University politics professor Yang Tai-shun (楊泰順) attributed Tsai’s declining support rating to swing voters’ generally negative perception of issues to which she has attached great importance, such as abolishing the SID and improving labor conditions.
The poll collected 1,076 valid samples from people aged 20 and older from Monday to Wednesday last week, and has a margin of error of 2.99 percentage points.
ANNOUNCEMENT: People who do not comply with the ban after a spoken warning would be reported to the police, the airport company said on Friday Taoyuan International Airport Corp on Friday announced that riding on vehicles, including scooter-suitcases (also known as “scootcases”), bicycles, scooters and skateboards, is prohibited in the airport’s terminals. Those using such vehicles should manually pull them or place them on luggage trolleys, the company said in a Facebook post. The ban intends to maintain order and protect travelers’ safety, as the airport often sees large crowds of people, it said, adding that it has stepped up publicity for the regulation, and those who do not comply after a spoken warning would be reported to the police. The company yesterday said that
QUIET START: Nearly a week after applications opened, agencies did not announce or promote the program, nor did they explain how it differed from other visitor visas Taiwan has launched a six-month “digital nomad visitor visa” program for foreign nationals from its list of visa-exempt countries who meet financial eligibility criteria and provide proof of work contracts. To apply, foreign nationals must either provide proof that they have obtained a digital nomad visa issued by another country or demonstrate earnings based on age brackets, the Bureau of Consular Affairs said. Applicants aged 20 to 29 must show they earned an annual salary of at least US$20,000 or its equivalent in one of the past two years, while those aged 30 or older must provide proof they earned US$40,000 in
SERIOUS ALLEGATIONS: The suspects formed spy networks and paramilitary groups to kill government officials during a possible Chinese invasion, prosecutors said Prosecutors have indicted seven retired military officers, members of the Rehabilitation Alliance Party, for allegedly obtaining funds from China, and forming paramilitary groups and assassination squads in Taiwan to collaborate with Chinese troops in a possible war. The suspects contravened the National Security Act (國家安全法) by taking photos and drawing maps of key radar stations, missile installations and the American Institute in Taiwan’s headquarters in Taipei, prosecutors said. They allegedly prepared to collaborate with China during a possible invasion of Taiwan, prosecutors said. Retired military officer Chu Hung-i (屈宏義), 62, a Republic of China Army Academy graduate, went to China
UNITY MESSAGE: Rather than focusing on what Trump said on the campaign trail about Taiwan, Taipei should be willing to engage with the US, Pompeo said Taiwan plays a key role in Washington’s model of deterrence against China, former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo said in a speech in Taipei yesterday. During US president-elect Donald Trump’s first term, “we had developed what we believe was a pretty effective model of deterrence against adversaries who wanted to undermine the set of rules and values that the people of Taiwan and the people of the US hold dear,” Pompeo said at a forum organized by the Formosa Republican Association. “Succeeding in continuing to build this model will not solely rest at the feet of president Trump and his team,
RSS