The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration has suffered a steep decline in approval ratings due to its handling of key labor legislation and increased Chinese military activity around Taiwan, according to a survey published by the Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation yesterday.
The DPP has experienced a steep decline in support, with only 23.4 percent of respondents expressing support for the party last month, down from 30.2 percent in September last year.
President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) approval rating dropped by 2.7 percentage points from November to 35.9 percent last month, while her disapproval rating rose from 39.8 percent to 46.6 percent during the same period, the poll found.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
Tsai’s average approval rating last year was 35.33 percent, lower than her predecessors, who averaged 51.65 percent in their first years in office, foundation chairman You Ying-lung (游盈隆) said.
Premier William Lai’s (賴清德) approval rating also fell by 12.3 percentage points from November to 47.4 percent last month, while his disapproval rating rose from 27.2 to 38.6 percent during the period.
Tsai and Lai both scored low on the “feeling thermometer,” which measures how respondents view politicians on a 0-100 scale, with 100 points reflecting the highest level of favorability, zero the lowest and 50 neutral feelings.
Tsai scored 46.94, a drastic decline from her highest score of 69.08 in May 2016 when she assumed office.
She is favored less than Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), who scored 51.52 in a foundation survey in November, and Tsai’s score of 46.94 was only slightly higher than former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) 41.64 points when he left office in May 2016.
Lai scored 54.24, down from 62.02 in October, while Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) remained the most popular politician at 59.53 points.
The poll found that 49.1 percent of respondents approved of a Cabinet proposal to amend the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法) to conditionally ease a requirement that caps the maximum number of consecutive working days at six, while 37.2 percent disapproved.
A proposal allowing employers to lower the minimum rest time between shifts from 11 hours to eight was approved by 55.5 percent of the respondents, while 32.7 percent disapproved.
The poll found that 53.1 percent of respondents agreed with the amendments in general, while 36.4 percent disagreed.
Only less than 20 percent of companies require raising the number of consecutive working days, but the amendment has prioritized the interests of those businesses over others’, National Chengchi University law professor Lin Chia-ho (林佳和) said.
“The policy has become a zero-sum game. A more delicate policymaking process should be enacted to rank policy options to achieve a win-win situation,” Lin said.
The poll found that 73.2 percent of respondents could not accept Chinese People Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft regularly flying around Taiwan, while 20.1 percent said it was acceptable.
Tsai’s lack of a strong response to Chinese military activity was unacceptable for 61.3 percent of the respondents, while 27.1 percent said it was acceptable.
“China is conducting a psychological warfare, but it accidentally creates consensus among Taiwanese” against foreign threat, Tamkang University Center of Advanced Technology executive director Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲) said.
Support for the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) climbed from 18.9 percent in September to 21.4 percent last month.
Support for the New Power Party also climbed from 6.4 to 8.4 percent during the period.
The survey found that 47.4 percent of respondents disapproved of a Cabinet proposal to reduce taxes for people with an annual income of NT$10 million (US$335,030) or more from 45 to 40 percent, while 43.6 percent approved the proposal.
A Cabinet proposal to raise a corporate income tax from 17 to 20 percent was approved by 47.5 percent, but disapproved by 42 percent.
Another Cabinet proposal to nationalize irrigation associations and replace association elections with government appointments was disapproved by 50.6 percent of respondents, while 37.6 percent approved.
The survey was conducted on Monday and Tuesday last week and collected 1,085 valid samples. It has a margin of error of 2.98 percentage points.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique