A majority of respondents found neither President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) nor Vice President Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) credible and do not trust the fairness of law enforcement officials, according to the results of a survey carried out by Taiwan Indicate Survey Research (TISR) which was released yesterday.
The research, conducted on Monday and Tuesday, found that only 32.7 percent of respondents said they trust Ma while 53.1 percent said they do not trust the president.
Only 24.3 percent of those polled found Wu, who has been embroiled in an alleged corruption case centered around former Legislative Yuan secretary-general Lin Yi-shih (林益世), credible, while 60.6 percent said the vice president is not trustworthy.
Leaders of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) outperformed the most powerful duo in the country in the credibility test, with 45.3 percent of respondents saying they trust DPP Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) and 49.4 percent saying that former DPP chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) is credible.
A more detailed breakdown found that Ma and Wu appeared to have lost the support of many of those who consider themselves to be swing voters.
Among this group, only 25.4 percent said Ma is credible and 14.2 percent placed their trust in Wu. By comparison, 44.2 percent of swing voters said they trust Tsai and 35.9 percent found Su credible.
The survey also found that 65.4 percent of the respondents said they disagreed that law enforcement officials — including police officers, prosecutors and criminal investigators — have upheld justice and fairness in carrying out their duties. Only 24.9 percent of those polled agreed.
Comparing the survey with a pair of similar polls conducted in 2006 and 2009, public trust in the judiciary and law enforcement system has been consistently sliding, dropping from 35.8 percent in 2006 to 29.9 percent in 2009 and 24.9 percent this year, TISR general manager Tai Li-an (戴立安) said in a press release.
Asked whether the judicial system was able to uphold justice and fairness, 63.3 percent of respondents disagreed, while 24.3 percent agreed.
The survey also found Ma’s latest approval ratings still hovering around the low 20s at 22.6 percent, with Premier Sean Chen (陳冲) doing slightly better at 24.1 percent.
The poll collected 1,010 valid samples and has a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points.
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