The government should continue striving to improve the overall economy to bolster its sagging approval ratings, giving priority to a redistribution of wealth that would benefit the disadvantaged, a group of academics said yesterday.
The academics offered the recommendations after Shih Hsin University unveiled the results of its latest opinion survey, which shows widespread public dissatisfaction with the current administration.
According to a telephone survey of 1,056 adults on Tuesday and Wednesday, President Chen Shui-bian's (
Premier Su Tseng-chang's (
In the latest survey, 31 percent said that the Cabinet's performance was acceptable, while 55 percent thought otherwise.
Analyzing the survey findings, National Open University professor Lai Shih-pei (賴世培) said he believed the best strategy for the government to rescue its slumping popularity was to rev up the economy.
According to Lai, a robust economy would help curtail crime and win back public confidence and trust.
Lai said the government should come up with a blueprint for economic reinvigoration.
With the gap between rich and poor swiftly widening, Lai said it was most important for the government to push forward with a redistribution of wealth in favor of the disadvantaged. The government should refrain from a bias in appeasing the rich or large business groups, he added.
Wu Tung-yeh (
"There is ample room for the current administrative team to improve in all these domains," he said.
Shih Cheng-feng (
Su vowed to improve law and order upon assuming the premiership early this year, and vowed to step down if the public did not see an improvement in the crime situation.
According to the latest Shih Hsin survey, 54 percent of respondents said they felt the crime situation had remained unchanged, and 28 percent said they felt it had deteriorated.
"The figures indicate an overwhelming majority of those interviewed do not feel comfortable with the law and order [situation]. The public generally feels that rampant phone fraud has continued unabated," Shih said, adding that the government should continue an all-out "clean sweep" to thwart crime.
The survey showed that 65 percent of respondents said they felt safer walking in the vicinity of their homes at night over the past three months, indicating a perceived improvement in law and order within their neighborhoods.
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