With 29 days left until the presidential election, the latest poll conducted by the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) yesterday showed President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) were neck-and-neck, with the difference in their support ratings falling within the poll’s margin of error.
The poll found that Ma had 34.5 percent support against Tsai’s 33. 26 percent. People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) garnered 10.81 percent.
The last three months have seen a heavy barrage of attacks and defense between the three parties, especially between the KMT and the DPP on issues such as Ma’s proposal if a cross-strait peace accord, a radical shift in the KMT’s stance on the farmers’ subsidy and the Yu Chang Biologics Co case, in which the KMT accused Tsai of a conflict of interest.
Survey results show that all of these issues have influenced the support ratings of the candidates.
According to the six polls conducted by the Liberty Times since September, support ratings for Ma and Tsai have seen the biggest fluctuations, causing great uncertainty about the outcome of the election.
Polls show that as many as 24.43 percent of voters are still undecided.
Cross-analyzing support ratings based on age groups in the Liberty Times poll showed that Tsai has an advantage in the younger age groups.
In the 20 to 29-year-old age group, Tsai had a support rating of 33.76 percent compared with Ma’s 25.29 percent. In the 30 to 39 age group, Tsai’s lead over Ma has increased to 13.3 percentage points.
Cross analysis based on geographical area shows that although the north has traditionally been a strong area for the KMT, Tsai is not absolutely at a loss in the region as she is only trailing Ma by 1.83 percentage points in New Taipei City (新北市).
The poll was conducted during the evenings from Tuesday to Thursday via telephone and it was based on a random sample of home phone numbers. The pollsters interviewed 1,461 voters and the poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.56 percentage points. The Liberty Times funded the poll.
Commenting on the poll, KMT Culture and Communication Committee director Chuang Po-chun (莊伯仲) said the party would do its best to canvass votes in the next few weeks.
DPP spokesperson Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) suggested the presidential election was a 50-50 tie. He said the party would use the poll as reference material.
PFP spokesman Wu Kun-yu (吳崑玉) said that all polls were for reference only.
Additional reporting by Peng Hsien-chun and Shih Hsiao-kuang
Translated by Jake Chung, staff writer
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
President William Lai (賴清德) has appointed former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) to attend the late Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican City on Saturday on his behalf, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today. The Holy See announced Francis’ funeral would take place on Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square. The ministry expressed condolences over Francis’ passing and said that Chen would represent Taiwan at the funeral and offer condolences in person. Taiwan and the Vatican have a long-standing and close diplomatic relationship, the ministry said. Both sides agreed to have Chen represent Taiwan at the funeral, given his Catholic identity and
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
Lawmakers from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday established a friendship group with their counterparts in Ukraine to promote parliamentary exchanges between the two countries. A ceremony in Taipei for the Taiwan-Ukraine Parliamentary Friendship Association, initiated by DPP Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷), was attended by lawmakers and officials, including Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) and European Economic and Trade Office in Taiwan Director Lutz Gullner. The increasingly dire situation in Ukraine is a global concern, and Taiwan cannot turn its back when the latter is in need of help, as the two countries share many common values and interests,
RSS