Less than half of Taiwanese think President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) is doing a good job after his first month in office, a government poll released on Thursday showed.
The poll conducted by the Research, Development and Evaluation Commission found that 48.2 percent of respondents approved of Ma’s performance so far, while 34.5 percent were displeased.
Forty-three percent of respondents approved of Premier Liu Chao-shiuan’s (劉兆玄) performance, while 38 percent disapproved.
Forty-two percent of the respondents said they were pleased with the overall performance of the Cabinet, while 39 percent were dissatisfied and 59.6 percent believe the Cabinet is working hard to realize Ma’s campaign pledges.
A majority of the respondents were optimistic about the future under Ma, with 66.1 percent predicting that the Cabinet would perform better in the future and 63.4 percent expressing confidence about the government’s performance over the next year.
The Cabinet’s efforts to improve cross-strait ties were recognized by 79.7 percent of respondents, while 66.8 percent said the Cabinet was “thrifty,” 62.3 percent said it “valued democracy and rule of law,” 53.9 percent said it was “professional” and 53.8 percent said it was “corruption-free.”
When asked if the Cabinet had “seriously boosted the economy, 45.2 percent of respondents said yes, 44.8 percent felt it “cared about culture and education,” 44.1 percent think it “has the guts to reform” and 42.2 percent thought that it “listened to grassroots voices.” Thirty-five percent said it “had achieved administrative efficiency.”
The poll was conducted on Monday and Tuesday, with 1,095 valid samples and a margin of error of 2.96 percentage points.
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