The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday urged supporters to show patience after the popularity of its presidential candidate, New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜), declined in a public opinion poll.
Hou’s support rating fell from 26 percent to 18.3 percent, the lowest among the three presidential hopefuls declared so far, a monthly poll by my-formosa.com showed on Monday.
Support for Vice President William Lai (賴清德), the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) presidential candidate, rose marginally from 35.4 percent to 35.8 percent, while Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) presidential candidate and Chairman Ko Wen-je’s (柯文哲) support rose from 22 percent to 25.9 percent.
Photo: Chueh Ching-lun, Taipei Times
Separately, a TVBS poll published this month showed that support for Hou stood at 30 percent, while support for Lai was 27 percent.
A TVBS poll two months earlier showed Hou with support of 32 percent and Lai with 28 percent.
KMT spokesman Lin Chia-hsing (林家興) yesterday said that Hou’s popularity should improve in light of his recent comments regarding the death penalty and the nation’s energy policy.
Hou on Monday said he believes nuclear power should be on the table for Taiwan and that he has always supported the death penalty.
The party headquarters studied the data and expect Hou’s statements to inspire support from base and swing voters, Lin said.
Asked whether the KMT’s failure so far to integrate support for Hon Hai Technology Group founder Terry Gou (郭台銘), who failed to secure the KMT’s presidential nomination, has negatively affected Hou’s popularity, Lin said the situation is out of the party leadership’s hands.
The KMT has open lines of communication with Gou and continues to hope that he will work with it to bring down the DPP administration, Lin said.
Separately yesterday, Hou refused to directly respond to reporters’ questions about his apparent drop in support.
“What is important is that we must identify issues that trouble people and ease their suffering with effective policies,” Hou said.
“We hope to build a peaceful, stable, prosperous and orderly nation,” he said. “I will brief you all on national policies concerning these points at a later time.”
Asked to comment on rumors that the KMT might replace him as its presidential candidate if his support continues to remain below 20 percent, Hou said: “We will remain united in the face of any problems, and work ceaselessly for the city with all our effort.”
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
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
RISING TOURISM: A survey showed that tourist visits increased by 35 percent last year, while newly created attractions contributed almost half of the growth Changhua County’s Lukang Old Street (鹿港老街) and its surrounding historical area clinched first place among Taiwan’s most successful tourist attractions last year, while no location in eastern Taiwan achieved a spot in the top 20 list, the Tourism Administration said. The listing was created by the Tourism Administration’s Forward-looking Tourism Policy Research office. Last year, the Lukang Old Street and its surrounding area had 17.3 million visitors, more than the 16 million visitors for the Wenhua Road Night Market (文化路夜市) in Chiayi City and 14.5 million visitors at Tainan’s Anping (安平) historical area, it said. The Taipei 101 skyscraper and its environs —
RSS