The latest poll by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) indicated the support rate for President Chen Shui-bian's (
DPP campaign spokesperson Wu Nai-jen (
Wu said the spectacle of the rally protesting China's military threat touched the hearts of many people and gave a boost to Chen's support rate.
The DPP poll shows Chen's support rate at 40 percent, the highest it's been since the peak of public support in November last year when the president returned from successful overseas visits to the US and Panama.
Meanwhile, Wu said yesterday that some of the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) vote captains in central and southern Taiwan have expressed a desire to defect to the DPP after the success of the human-chain rally.
"These local vote captains working under certain KMT law-makers contacted us, saying they wanted to side with the DPP. They expressed the hope that the DPP could dispatch some heavyweights to invite them over to the DPP, so as to save face. This could help ensure a DPP victory in central Taiwan," Wu said.
According to a poll conducted by the pro-unification United Daily News, Chen remained three percentage points behind his opponent, KMT Chairman Lien Chan (
The United Daily News poll showed that support for both candidates fell by two percentage points, with only the number of undecided voters up sharply. Thirty-eight percent of the 1,070 people questioned said they would vote for Lien against 35 percent for Chen, according to the poll results.
The rates compared with 40 percent for Lien and 37 percent for Chen in a survey by the paper on Thursday.
The number of undecided voters was up seven points to 27 percent. Lien's support dipped below 40 percent for the first time this year after standing at 44 percent in January, the paper said.
Betting on the election result in the nation's widespread illegal gambling industry was now moving toward a 400,000-vote victory for Lien, down from 600,000 before the protest, according to the China Times newspaper.
Hu Fo (
According to the latest survey by cable news network ERA, Lien could win 36.5 percent of votes against Chen's 35.0 percent, compared with 38.0 percent and 33.8 percent before the rally.
But a crucial 22 percent of the about 1,500 people it polled were undecided and the margin of error was 2.5 percentage points.
Although the rally has greatly boosted the morale of the DPP, as well as Chen's prospects of being re-elected, Wu expressed concern about the expected turnout for the referendum.
"We are not as worried about the presidential election now as we are about the referendum. Chen will need at least 6 million votes to win the election, but 8 million votes -- half the number of eligible voters -- are required to validate the referendum," Wu said.
Wu said in the remaining days before the election the party will focus on campaigning for the referendum to build on the momentum that had been generated by the human-chain rally.
The DPP yesterday pledged to focus on using positive propaganda in the 18 days remaining until the election.
In a campaign speech on Sunday night, Chen predicted that he expected the KMT-People First Party alliance to launch a second wave of mudslinging against him.
His words came true yesterday as the Chinese-language United Daily ran two full pages of reports on fugitive former Tuntex Group chairman Chen Yu-hao (陳由豪), who made further accusations that the president had lied about the number of times he had received political donations from him.
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to
RSS