President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) approval rating sank to a new low this month as economic confidence indices continue to drop, a poll released yesterday by Global Views (遠見雜誌) magazine showed.
The poll, conducted by the Global Views Survey Research Center (遠見民調), gauges what it calls the Taiwan public mood index (TPMI), which draws from a political confidence index (PCI) and an economic confidence index (ECI).
On a scale from zero to 100, the survey found that the TPMI was 42.6, the PCI was 50.1 and the ECI was 35. The figures represented a drop from last month ranging between 0.3 percentage points and 1.9 percentage points.
On the political front, respondents’ confidence in Ma was only 49.4, a drop of 3.2 percentage points from last month. Premier Liu Chao-shuan’s (劉兆玄) confidence index was 46.6 and that of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) was 43.2.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) received 40.6 in the confidence index, a 0.1 decline. The DPP’s confidence index climbed by 3.6 percentage points to 36.2.
Pollsters attributed the DPP’s growth to Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu’s (陳菊) ice-breaking visit to China last month, which won much acclaim after she referred to Ma as “President Ma of the central government” in front of Chinese officials.
Although a majority of respondents expected to see cross-strait detent continue next month, the score for political stability for next month was 48.7. The figure was still an increase from last month.
Pollsters said that the incresase might have something to do with the summer lull in the legislature.
Ma’s announcement that he would run for KMT chairman was likely to have played a role in boosting public confidence in next month’s political prospects, they said.
The economic index was 26.5, a drop of 0.9 percentage points from last month. The economic optimism index plunged by 2.9 percentage points to 43.6.
The lackluster performance of the local and international stock markets might have contributed to the decline, pollsters said. Compounding the problem were price hikes for utilities, food and commodities, they said.
Most respondents said they were pessimistic about next month’s economic prospects, with the economic improvement index scoring 45.9 and the index for individual finances at 41.2.
The poll, conducted on June 16 and June 17, questioned 1,004 adults across the country. Meanwhile, Ma yesterday vowed to continue with his economic policies and increase domestic demand.
Ma said the economic downturn could drag on for a long period of time, adding he understood the opposition had different ideas about his economic and cross-strait policies.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
RSS