A new poll released by the Taiwan Brain Trust think tank yesterday found that a large percentage of people are dissatisfied with President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who doubles as KMT chairman, while there is moderate support for DPP Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌).
Public dissatisfaction with Ma was at 74.6 percent, with 9.9 percent supporting him; while 35.7 percent of people were dissatisfied with Su, with 39.2 percent supporting him, according to the poll results.
The survey found that dissatisfaction with the KMT was at 77.8 percent and public support at 13.5 percent, while the DPP clocked a 46.3 percent dissatisfaction rate and a public support rate of 36.6 percent.
Factional infighting within the party was the biggest reason for public dissatisfaction with the DPP, garnering the votes of 47.6 percent of respondents, with “lack of policy” and “lack of talent” being the second and third reasons, both at 37.5 percent. Cross-strait policies at 26.3 percent was the fourth reason for dissatisfaction with the party.
The No. 1 reason for public support of the DPP was its pro-local stance, at 45 percent, while the second reason was its support of laborers and farmers, at 39.3 percent. The third-largest factor was the party’s strong democracy ideals, at 34 percent.
Dissatisfaction with the KMT’s inept governance topped 65.5 percent, with the party’s economic policies coming in a close second at 64.4 percent and graft coming third at 46.6 percent.
Identification with the party was the top reason to support for the KMT at 36.9 percent, with cross-strait policy second at 28.4 percent and economic policy third at 20.7 percent.
The press conference held to publicize the poll was hosted by Taiwan Brain Trust president Wu Rong-i (吳榮義) and its founder, Koo Kwang-ming (辜寬敏).
Koo called on the DPP to refrain from infighting and rise above intra-party feuds.
Meanwhile, Koo also revealed the results of a poll on the popularity of major DPP figures, which suggested that former DPP chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) was in the lead, followed by Greater Tainan Mayor William Lai (賴清德), with Su in third position.
While expressing his support for Su to remain in office as party chairman, Koo called on Su not to run for the presidency in 2016 and instead help campaign for the party’s presidential candidate, whoever that may be, in his capacity as the party chairman.
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