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
Yangmingshan National Park authorities yesterday urged visitors to respect public spaces and obey the law after a couple was caught on a camera livestream having sex at the park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) earlier in the day. The Shilin Police Precinct in Taipei said it has identified a suspect and his vehicle registration number, and would summon him for questioning. The case would be handled in accordance with public indecency charges, it added. The couple entered the park at about 11pm on Thursday and began fooling around by 1am yesterday, the police said, adding that the two were unaware of the park’s all-day live
Fast food chain McDonald's is to raise prices by up to NT$5 on some products at its restaurants across Taiwan, starting on Wednesday next week, the company announced today. The prices of all extra value meals and sharing boxes are to increase by NT$5, while breakfast combos and creamy corn soup would go up by NT$3, the company said in a statement. The price of the main items of those meals, if ordered individually, would remain the same. Meanwhile, the price of a medium-sized lemon iced tea and hot cappuccino would rise by NT$3, extra dipping sauces for chicken nuggets would go up
Yangmingshan National Park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) nature area has gone viral after a park livestream camera observed a couple in the throes of intimate congress, which was broadcast live on YouTube, drawing large late-night crowds and sparking a backlash over noise, bright lights and disruption to wildlife habitat. The area’s livestream footage appeared to show a couple engaging in sexual activity on a picnic table in the park on Friday last week, with the uncensored footage streamed publicly online. The footage quickly spread across social media, prompting a tide of visitors to travel to the site to “check in” and recreate the
Minister of Digital Affairs Lin Yi-ching (林宜敬) yesterday cited regulatory issues and national security concerns as an expert said that Taiwan is among the few Asian regions without Starlink. Lin made the remarks on Facebook after funP Innovation Group chief executive officer Nathan Chiu (邱繼弘) on Friday said Taiwan and four other countries in Asia — China, North Korea, Afghanistan and Syria — have no access to Starlink. Starlink has become available in 166 countries worldwide, including Ukraine, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, in the six years since it became commercial, he said. While China and North Korea block Starlink, Syria is not
RSS