Like a double-edged sword, Chen's stumping helped attract traditional DPP supporters but also served to remind swing voters of their falling standard of living, Ping said.
The president himself recently saw the lowest approval rating of his term at 31 percent. His sliding popularity is believed to coincide with an exodus of support in the districts of Taitung, Shihlin and Chungshan, where the DPP performed well in 1998.
Still, mainlanders, who account for 22 percent of the city's population, are also believed to have contributed to Ma's wide margin of victory. Past elections show this group consistently rejected candidates with independence leanings.
"That explained why Lee, a top-caliber candidate by all accounts, faced an uphill struggle from the very beginning," DPP lawmaker Chiu Tai-san (
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