A poll released yesterday by Global Views magazine showed a majority of respondents believe President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) is unlikely to establish a clean image for his party even though he is doubling as Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman.
A majority of respondents also said they were unhappy with the performance of Ma and KMT legislators.
The survey found that 51.7 percent of respondents said they did not think Ma could eradicate “black gold” politics and build a clean image for the KMT, while only 28.7 percent said he could.
The results were the reverse of a poll conducted by the magazine in August 2005 when Ma was last KMT chairman. The 2005 poll showed that 52 percent of respondents said Ma could eradicate “black gold” and create a clean image for his party while 20.1 percent said he could not.
Yesterday’s poll also showed that 49.1 percent of respondents did not think Ma could push the KMT’s democratic reform. Only 31.7 percent said he could.
In the 2005 poll, 14.7 percent said he could not push reform with 65.2 percent saying he could.
Comparing the differences between the two surveys, Lian Tai (戴立安), director of the Global Views Survey Research Center, said they had much to do with Ma’s leadership and the performance of his government.
The poll showed that 58.6 percent of respondents were dissatisfied with Ma’s performance with 29.5 percent satisfied. His trust index also dropped 3 percent to 41.8 percent from last month with 42.4 percent saying they did not trust him.
Only 21.9 percent said they were happy with the KMT’s overall performance in the legislature with 58.5 percent saying they were unhappy, an increase of 1.7 percent.
Tai said the KMT’s low approval rating posed a challenge to Ma, who took over the party’s helm on Saturday.
The poll also found that more respondents were against ultimate unification with China.
Those in favor of ultimate independence numbered 47.2 percent and those who supported ultimate unification were 15.7 percent.
If the economic, political and social conditions on both sides of the Taiwan Strait were similar, 68.3 percent of respondents said unification would not be necessary but 11.7 percent said that would be the time for unification.
However, 45.1 percent of respondents said Ma’s position on Taiwan’s future was to unify with China, a 21.1 percent increase from the poll in August 2005. Only 30.1 percent said Ma intended to maintain the “status quo” and 6.3 percent said that he wanted Taiwanese independence.
The national poll of 1,006 adults was conducted between last Wednesday and Friday.
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