The public sees Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) as the best performer among 12 of the nation’s political leaders, while President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) is ranked as the worst, according to an opinion poll released yesterday.
A Taiwan Mood Barometer Survey conducted by Taiwan Indicators Survey Research (TISR) this week was aimed at determining “favorability” of the politicians — defined as the public’s general impressions of the person’s personal characteristics and how “likable” (好感度) they are.
The Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) Chen scored a favorability rating of 72.5 percent, while Ma, a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) member, earned a 65.9 percent dissatisfaction rating.
Independent Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) came in second behind Chen in terms of favorability with 71 percent, followed by DPP Tainan Mayor William Lai (賴清德) with 65.3 percent, KMT Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) with 63.6 percent, New Taipei City Mayor and KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) with 62.1 percent and DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) with 60.9 percent.
Scoring less well were new Taichung Mayor Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) — a former DPP legislator — who received 53.6 percent, former Taipei mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) of the KMT with 35.2 percent and Taoyuan Mayor Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) of the DPP — a former minister of the now-defunct Government Information Office — with 34.4 percent.
Three top KMT politicians rounded out the bottom of the favorability rankings: Premier Mao Chi-kuo (毛治國) with 28.1 percent, Vice President Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) with 22.2 percent and Ma with just 21.8 percent.
Far fewer respondents expressed dissatisfaction with Chen (13.4 percent) or Ko (15.4 percent) compared with Ma and his 65.9 percent rating.
The survey of Taiwanese aged 20 year-old or above was conducted from Monday to Wednesday using computer-
assisted telephone interviewing and random-digit-dial systems. A total of 1,006 valid surveys were collected.
The survey has a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points.
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