President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) public approval rating has dropped to a 21-month low following power outages and an increase in locally transmitted COVID-19 infections, a survey showed yesterday.
The Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation commissioned Focus Survey Research to conduct the survey, which was done by telephone from Monday to Thursday last week.
Tsai’s approval rating dropped to 45.7 percent, the lowest it has been in 21 months, foundation chairman Michael You (游盈隆) said.
Photo: CNA
Premier Su Tseng-chang’s (蘇貞昌) approval rating dropped by 9.5 percent from a survey conducted last month, You said.
“After so many months of favorable governance, the Tsai administration’s ability to run the country is being put to the test,” he said.
The survey asked respondents whether they approved of Tsai’s policies and handling of major issues, to which 8.5 percent said they strongly approved, 37.2 percent approved, 24.9 percent said they did not really approve and 16.4 percent did not approve at all, while 13.1 percent refrained from answering.
The results showed an 8.7 percent decrease in Tsai’s approval rating from a similar poll last month and an 11.4 percent increase in those expressing disapproval of her performance, You said, adding that such a large change in such a short time was rare.
Power outages on May 13 and Monday last week, an increase in local COVID-19 infections and allegations of gang affiliations brought against Democratic Progressive Party members were likely the cause of the approval-rating change, he said, adding that improvements in Taiwan-US relations were insufficient to offset the negative factors.
The survey also asked respondents how satisfied they were with Su’s performance, to which 7.7 percent said they were very satisfied, 37.2 percent were satisfied, 24.7 percent were not really satisfied and 19.9 percent were not satisfied at all, while 10.5 refrained from answering.
“This shows an almost even divide between those satisfied with Su and those not satisfied,” You said. “It’s a complete lack of consensus — and a first for a premier’s approval rating.”
The results showed that 11.5 percent more people expressed disapproval of the premier compared with last month, he said.
The poll collected 1,082 valid samples and has a margin of error of 2.98 percentage points.
Taiwanese actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has died of pneumonia at the age of 48 while on a trip to Japan, where she contracted influenza during the Lunar New Year holiday, her sister confirmed today through an agent. "Our whole family came to Japan for a trip, and my dearest and most kindhearted sister Barbie Hsu died of influenza-induced pneumonia and unfortunately left us," Hsu's sister and talk show hostess Dee Hsu (徐熙娣) said. "I was grateful to be her sister in this life and that we got to care for and spend time with each other. I will always be grateful to
UNITED: The premier said Trump’s tariff comments provided a great opportunity for the private and public sectors to come together to maintain the nation’s chip advantage The government is considering ways to assist the nation’s semiconductor industry or hosting collaborative projects with the private sector after US President Donald Trump threatened to impose a 100 percent tariff on chips exported to the US, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday. Trump on Monday told Republican members of the US Congress about plans to impose sweeping tariffs on semiconductors, steel, aluminum, copper and pharmaceuticals “in the very near future.” “It’s time for the United States to return to the system that made us richer and more powerful than ever before,” Trump said at the Republican Issues Conference in Miami, Florida. “They
REMINDER: Of the 6.78 million doses of flu vaccine Taiwan purchased for this flu season, about 200,000 are still available, an official said, following Big S’ death As news broke of the death of Taiwanese actress and singer Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛), also known as Big S (大S), from severe flu complications, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and doctors yesterday urged people at high risk to get vaccinated and be alert to signs of severe illness. Hsu’s family yesterday confirmed that the actress died on a family holiday in Japan due to pneumonia during the Lunar New Year holiday. CDC Deputy Director-General Tseng Shu-hui (曾淑慧) told an impromptu news conference that hospital visits for flu-like illnesses from Jan. 19 to Jan. 25 reached 162,352 — the highest
TAIWAN DEFENSE: The initiative would involve integrating various systems in a fast-paced manner through the use of common software to obstruct a Chinese invasion The first tranche of the US Navy’s “Replicator” initiative aimed at obstructing a Chinese invasion of Taiwan would be ready by August, a US Naval Institute (USNI) News report on Tuesday said. The initiative is part of a larger defense strategy for Taiwan, and would involve launching thousands of uncrewed submarines, surface vessels and aerial vehicles around Taiwan to buy the nation and its partners time to assemble a response. The plan was first made public by the Washington Post in June last year, when it cited comments by US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue
RSS