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Polls shows 75% unhappy with president

President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) popularity has hit new lows due to Taiwan-China tensions, a slowing economy and allegations of insider trading against his son-in-law, a newspaper reported yesterday.

Six years after Chen came to power, a poll found that 75 percent of respondents were dissatisfied with his performance and only 15 percent were satisfied, the Chinese-language Apple Daily said.

Among those who were dissatisfied, 58 percent questioned the integrity of the first family, 16 percent were unhappy with Taiwan's economy, seven percent with Taiwan's diplomatic isolation and six percent with crime.

Chen was inaugurated for a four-year term on May 20, 2000 and won re-election in 2004. He is due to step down in 2008.

Chen faces the biggest crisis of his presidency, and his ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) looks set to lose power to the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) in 2008, the paper said.

The telephone poll of 1,066 people found 63 percent believe KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) will win the 2008 presidential election, while only 15 percent thought Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) of the DPP would win the election.

The Apple Daily printed a chart to show how Taiwan's economy has worsened since Chen became president in 2000.

Taiwan's economy is currently growing at an annual rate of just 4.25 percent compared to 5.77 percent in 2000 while the unemployment rate has risen from 2.99 percent to 4.13 percent, the paper said.
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