President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) approval rating has risen by 16.6 percentage points to 46.4 percent following the Cabinet reshuffle, a rare comeback considering her rating had been below 30 percent.
The Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation’s latest monthly poll, released yesterday, found that Tsai’s approval rating has rebounded from 29.8 percent last month to 46.4 percent this month, while her disapproval rating fell from 50 percent to 36.4 percent.
The reversal is attributed to the Sept. 8 Cabinet reshuffle by Premier William Lai (賴清德), following former premier Lin Chuan’s (林全) resignation.
Photo: Chang Tsun-wei, Taipei Times
“About 20 percent of disappointed supporters have turned around as they realized that Tsai Ing-wen, rather than being incurably stubborn and incapable, could still make wise decisions at critical moments,” foundation chairman You Ying-lung (游盈隆) said.
The reshuffle was approved by 69 percent of respondents, while 17.5 percent disapproved.
Lai is one of the most popular politicians in the nation, having scored 63.44 on the “feeling thermometer,” which is gauged between zero and 100, compared with Tsai’s 59.67 and former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) 57.6 when Tsai and Ma were running in the 2012 presidential election.
Photo: CNA
Only Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), who scored 66.75, could compete with Lai, You said.
Tsai’s rebound indicates that the public has high expectations for Lai, but if he fails to achieve tangible results in the short term, the disappointment could be equally high, National Dong Hua University professor Shih Cheng-feng (施正鋒) said.
Shih Hsin University journalism professor Peng Huai-en (彭懷恩) said he thought that Lai’s popularity would wane if he has conflicts with Tsai, since most of Lai’s Cabinet members are holdovers from Lin’s, who were selected by Tsai in the first place and who caused support for Lin’s Cabinet to fall.
However, National Chengchi University professor Yeh Kuang-shih (葉匡時) said that Lai could maintain his popularity if he is able to smoothly cooperate with Tsai and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus because the public has grown indifferent to politics and has generally low expectation of Tsai’s administration, and because the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has proven to be an incapable opposition party.
“The inability to revive the economy is the greatest challenge facing the new Cabinet, which lacks the talent needed to reform the country’s economy and industrial structure,” Yeh said.
The amendment to the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法) that led to the “one fixed day off and one flexible day off” workweek policy — revision of which is considered a priority for Lai — was disapproved of by 60.1 percent of respondents, the highest disapproval rate since the policy was announced in December last year. It was supported by 27.8 percent of the respondents.
Disapproval of each of the five branches of government far exceeds their approval rating with the exception of the Executive Yuan, of which 47.8 percent of respondent disapproved of and 39.6 percent approved.
Meanwhile, the poll indicates that the smaller parties are increasingly being marginalized.
While 30.2 percent of the respondents said they supported the DPP and 18.9 percent supported the KMT, only 6.4 percent supported the New Power Party (NPP) and 2.9 supported the People First Party, while 38.2 percent said they did not support any party in particular.
“The support for the KMT has dropped to its lowest since it came to Taiwan, and the NPP, which had a 15 percent support rate in July last year, is only a short way away from the 5 percent threshold [of legislator-at-large seats], suggesting the marginalization of small parties,” You said.
The Legislative Yuan received a 61.1 percent disapproval rating and a 29.5 percent approval rating.
Of the other branches, the Judicial Yuan’s ratings are 58.7 percent and 24.3 percent respectively; the Examination Yuan’s were 43.6 percent and 29.9 percent respectively and the Control Yuan’s were 55.3 percent and 24.6 percent respectively.
According to 53.6 percent of the respondents, the constitutional separation of the five powers should be revised, while 29.3 percent said it was unnecessary.
While 41.3 percent of the respondents said that former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), who has served more than six years of a 20-year prison term for corruption, did not receive a fair trial, 37.1 percent said he did.
The poll was conducted on Monday and Tuesday last week and collected 1,074 samples with a margin of error of 2.99 percentage points.
EXPRESSING GRATITUDE: Without its Taiwanese partners which are ‘working around the clock,’ Nvidia could not meet AI demand, CEO Jensen Huang said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and US-based artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer Nvidia Corp have partnered with each other on silicon photonics development, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said. Speaking with reporters after he met with TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) in Taipei on Friday, Huang said his company was working with the world’s largest contract chipmaker on silicon photonics, but admitted it was unlikely for the cooperation to yield results any time soon, and both sides would need several years to achieve concrete outcomes. To have a stake in the silicon photonics supply chain, TSMC and
SILICON VALLEY HUB: The office would showcase Taiwan’s strengths in semiconductors and artificial intelligence, and help Taiwanese start-ups connect with global opportunities Taiwan has established an office in Palo Alto, one of the principal cities of Silicon Valley in California, aimed at helping Taiwanese technology start-ups gain global visibility, the National Development Council said yesterday. The “Startup Island Taiwan Silicon Valley hub” at No. 299 California Avenue is focused on “supporting start-ups and innovators by providing professional consulting, co-working spaces, and community platforms,” the council said in a post on its Web site. The office is the second overseas start-up hub established by the council, after a similar site was set up in Tokyo in September last year. Representatives from Taiwanese start-ups, local businesses and
‘DETERRENT’: US national security adviser-designate Mike Waltz said that he wants to speed up deliveries of weapons purchased by Taiwan to deter threats from China US president-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for US secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, affirmed his commitment to peace in the Taiwan Strait during his confirmation hearing in Washington on Tuesday. Hegseth called China “the most comprehensive and serious challenge to US national security” and said that he would aim to limit Beijing’s expansion in the Indo-Pacific region, Voice of America reported. He would also adhere to long-standing policies to prevent miscalculations, Hegseth added. The US Senate Armed Services Committee hearing was the first for a nominee of Trump’s incoming Cabinet, and questions mostly focused on whether he was fit for the
SHARED VALUES: The US, Taiwan and other allies hope to maintain the cross-strait ‘status quo’ to foster regional prosperity and growth, the former US vice president said Former US vice president Mike Pence yesterday vowed to continue to support US-Taiwan relations, and to defend the security and interests of both countries and the free world. At a meeting with President William Lai (賴清德) at the Presidential Office in Taipei, Pence said that the US and Taiwan enjoy strong and continued friendship based on the shared values of freedom, the rule of law and respect for human rights. Such foundations exceed limitations imposed by geography and culture, said Pence, who is visiting Taiwan for the first time. The US and Taiwan have shared interests, and Americans are increasingly concerned about China’s
RSS