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Ma rating plunges to 36.9 percent, DPP survey shows

A Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) survey conducted on the eve of President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) 100th day in office found that his approval rating has plummeted to 36.9 percent, with his disapproval rating standing at 57 percent.

“The poll results indicate that allegations of money-laundering against former president Chen Shiu-bian (陳水扁) did not improve Ma’s approval rating, meaning that the public considers them separate issues,” the party’s Department of Culture and Information Director Cheng Wen-tsang (鄭文燦) told a press conference yesterday.

Cheng said Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) received an approval rating of 33.2 percent and a disapproval rating of 56.5 percent in the survey.

Cheng said that Liu’s low satisfaction rating was in accordance with the Cabinet’s poor performance, particularly in the economic sphere.

The poll was conducted by the DPP last week with 1,348 valid samples, Cheng said.

A government poll released last Tuesday put the president’s approval rating for his performance over the past three months at 47 percent.

The poll, conducted by the Cabinet’s Research, Development and Evaluation Commission, found that 36.3 percent of respondents were displeased with Ma’s performance.

Liu received an approval rating of 41.9 percent and a disapproval rating of 37.9 percent for the same period in that survey.

Cheng said the results of the government’s poll were at odds with the DPP’s as well as those conducted by media groups and academic institutions.

He said the government used its survey to cover up the fact that the nation is facing serious economic problems.

While the government claimed that it was doing a better job than three months ago, the public did not agree with it, Cheng said.

When approached for comment, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆) defended the government, saying that it was only focusing on laying foundations for the nation’s development.

Lai gave the administration credit for its “hard work,” adding that he believed the government’s approval rating would improve gradually if the administration were given more time to carry out policies that require long-term planning.

KMT Legislator Shyu Jong-shyoung (徐中雄) said the KMT government was forced to “clean up the mess left behind by the former DPP administration,” adding that the survey result only reflected the public’s general dissatisfaction with their living standard, not their discontent with the KMT administration’s achievements.

Shyu said it would be more reasonable to poll the public a year after the KMT administration assumed office, as it takes time for certain policies to yield results.
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