President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) average approval rating has stayed below 30 percent since his election on March 22 last year because of public frustration with poor government performance, a poll conducted by a local news channel showed yesterday.
The telephone poll of 1,012 adults on Wednesday and Thursday by the pan-blue-leaning TVBS showed that satisfaction with Ma had dropped from 41 percent on his inauguration on May 20 to 29 percent prior to the anniversary of his election victory today.
BELOW 30
Ma’s approval rating has remained below 30 percent since four months into his administration.
The station’s poll in September showed his approval rating at 28 percent. Vice President Vincent Siew’s (蕭萬長) approval rate was 26 percent, the poll showed.
DISAPPROVAL
The president’s disapproval rating rose to 49 percent from 44 percent last year, while 50 percent of respondents called for a Cabinet reshuffle to improve government performance.
Only 34 percent of respondents said the government was leading the nation in the right direction, while 47 percent said they would still vote for Ma rather than his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) counterpart Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) if given a second chance.
Another poll conducted by Global Views magazine published on Thursday also found Ma’s approval rate to be 28.6 percent, a 5.9 percent drop from last month. Fifty-eight percent of those polled said they disapproved of the president’s performance.
The telephone survey, conducted between last Sunday and Tuesday on 1,005 adults, also found that the president’s trust index dropped from 44.2 percent last month to 40.5 percent this month.
The public’s frustration with the performance of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators was also growing, with the KMT legislators’ disapproval rating increasing to 61.5 percent, the poll showed.
PLUMMEtING
Pollsters said the plummeting approval rate for both Ma and the KMT could be related to the disappointing effect of the government’s consumer voucher scheme, growing unemployment and the nation’s economic decline.
At a separate setting yesterday, Hsieh issued harsh criticism of Ma’s performance.
ANNIVERSARY
Saying that today marked the first anniversary of his failed bid in the presidential election last year, Hsieh said that “Ma’s performance was so poor” that he felt he needed to come forward and point it out.
Hsieh panned Ma, saying he knew no shame, and slammed him for failing to deliver on his “6-3-3” campaign promise and for coming up with lies and excuses to cover up poor governance.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY SU YONG-YUAN
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