In the wake of President Chen Shui-bian's inauguration address, (
While Chen was elected to office with only 39.3 percent of the vote, polls are showing that Chen is near to having a majority of popular support just two days after taking office.
A poll conducted by Shanshui Public Opinion Research Company (
Twelve percent of those surveyed did not think the speech would help and the remaining 24 percent remained undecided.
Some 73 percent of respondents agreed with the "five no's" Chen mentioned in his address while less than 10 percent were opposed.
What the future holds
Concerning Taiwan's future, 31 percent of respondents considered Taiwan must be independent and 29 percent expressed a desire to reunify with China.
However, 16 percent insisted on maintaining the status quo and 23 percent were undecided.
Interestingly, a breakdown analysis of the poll indicated that Chen's address received high confirmation from those who supported different political parties as well as those with different ideologies of unification or independence.
Some 73 percent of pro-unification supporters and 87 percent of pro-independence respondents were satisfied with Chen's address.
Some 90 percent of DPP supporters approved of Chen's speech, while almost 80 percent of KMT supporters and near 70 percent of PFP supporters were satisfied.
"Such a high approval rating from various political-tendency respondents revealed Chen's accomplishment of being a so-called `all people's President,'" said Joseph Wu (
`Saturated balance'
Political analyst Hsu Szu-chien (
"The strong confirmation of Chen's address signified that people have reached the consensus regarding cross-strait issues, which were generally believed strayed and controversial ones within the country," Hsu said.
Assistant professor at National Chung Cheng University Lin Chia-long (
"Chen, to the present, received an approval rating double that in the March election, and it is a sign to place him in a favorable position to deal with cross-strait issues on the basis of public opinions," said Lin.
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