A government poll released on Tuesday put President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) approval rating for his performance over the past three months at 47 percent.
The poll, conducted by the Research, Development and Evaluation Commission last Thursday and Friday with 1,094 valid samples, found that 36.3 percent of respondents were displeased with Ma’s performance.
Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) received an approval rating of 41.9 percent and a disapproval rating of 37.9 percent for the same period.
Forty-four percent of respondents were pleased with the Cabinet’s overall performance, while 39.6 percent expressed dissatisfaction.
On the Cabinet’s future performance, 57.4 percent said they were optimistic and 13.9 percent indicated they were not.
The poll found that 55 percent thought the Cabinet was doing a better job than two months ago, while 28 percent disagreed.
In addition, 52.5 percent of respondents were optimistic about Liu’s performance in the months ahead, while 13.6 percent were pessimistic.
Areas of dissatisfaction included the administration’s policies on commodity prices, social security and education reform.
In response, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Department of Culture and Information Director Cheng Wen-tsang (鄭文燦) said that the Cabinet had released the survey to combat claims that its performance has been unsatisfactory.
He said that the high satisfaction rates in the survey were at odds with those conducted by the media and academic institutions.
Cheng said the government used the survey to cover the fact that the nation is facing a recession and surging inflation.
Hsiao Chuan-cheng (蕭全政), a political science professor at National Taiwan University, said the poll did not represent a dramatic change in the government’s approval ratings.
Hsiao said a poll conducted by the DPP two months ago found that Ma’s approval rating had plummeted to 37.1 percent, with his disapproval rating at 56.7 percent at a time when the public was unhappy about surging prices and the government’s ineffective response to damage caused by flooding.
Hsiao said the new government poll reflected the public’s approval of lower oil prices and the government’s efforts to strengthen its typhoon response measures.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY RICH CHANG
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