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 yesterday condemned the recent increase in Chinese coast guard-escorted fishing vessels operating illegally in waters around the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. Unusually large groupings of Chinese fishing vessels began to appear around the islands on Feb. 15, when at least six motherships and 29 smaller boats were sighted, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said in a news release. While CGA vessels were dispatched to expel the Chinese boats, Chinese coast guard ships trespassed into Taiwan’s restricted waters and unsuccessfully attempted to interfere, the CGA said. Due to the provocation, the CGA initiated an operation to increase
A crowd of over 200 people gathered outside the Taipei District Court as two sisters indicted for abusing a 1-year-old boy to death attended a preliminary hearing in the case yesterday afternoon. The crowd held up signs and chanted slogans calling for aggravated penalties in child abuse cases and asking for no bail and “capital punishment.” They also held white flowers in memory of the boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), who was allegedly tortured to death by the sisters in December 2023. The boy died four months after being placed in full-time foster care with the
The Shanlan Express (山嵐號), or “Mountain Mist Express,” is scheduled to launch on April 19 as part of the centennial celebration of the inauguration of the Taitung Line. The tourism express train was renovated from the Taiwan Railway Corp’s EMU500 commuter trains. It has four carriages and a seating capacity of 60 passengers. Lion Travel is arranging railway tours for the express service. Several news outlets were invited to experience the pilot tour on the new express train service, which is to operate between Hualien Railway Station and Chihshang (池上) Railway Station in Taitung County. It would also be the first tourism service
‘MALIGN PURPOSE’: Governments around the world conduct espionage operations, but China’s is different, as its ultimate goal is annexation, a think tank head said Taiwan is facing a growing existential threat from its own people spying for China, experts said, as the government seeks to toughen measures to stop Beijing’s infiltration efforts and deter Taiwanese turncoats. While Beijing and Taipei have been spying on each other for years, experts said that espionage posed a bigger threat to Taiwan due to the risk of a Chinese attack. Taiwan’s intelligence agency said China used “diverse channels and tactics” to infiltrate the nation’s military, government agencies and pro-China organizations. The main targets were retired and active members of the military, persuaded by money, blackmail or pro-China ideology to steal
RSS