President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) approval rating and confidence index increased slightly this month, a poll conducted for the Chinese-language Global Views magazine showed yesterday.
The poll, by Global Views Survey Research Center, showed that Ma’s trust index increased 3.7 percentage points from the previous month to 45.6 percent.
The overall confidence index on the Ma administration also increased 3.8 percentage points from the previous month to 45.9 percent, marking the first time in four months that the confidence index has increased, the center said.
LEVEL OF TRUST
Ma’s personal trust index increased from 41.9 percent to 45.6 percent this month, while Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) also saw an increase in his trust index, from 45.1 percent to 49.3 percent.
The trust index for the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) was 42.8 percent, up from 39.3 percent the previous month.
The center attributed the increase to the government’s faster response to public grievance on issues such as health premium adjustments and state-run CPC Corp, Taiwan’s overcharging of air pollution fees on gas and diesel.
Days after Minister of Health Yaung Chih-liang (楊志良) said his department would definitely raise health premiums this year, Wu instructed the Department of Health to re-evaluate its health premium adjustment plan.
When CPC Corp, Taiwan was charged with overcharging motorists for air pollution and gasoline management fees over the past three years, Wu instructed the Ministry of Economic Affairs to perform an honest review of its gasoline pricing formula to avoid making unwarranted profits at the expense of consumers.
PRICE CUTS
The company has since announced three price cuts within a week.
The center said Ma also won more trust from the public by explaining the government’s plan to sign an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China at a press conference and his promise to keep the process of signing the agreement transparent.
Whether the increased trust in both Ma and his administration will help improve the KMT’s chances in the legislative by-elections later this month remained unclear, the center said.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) confidence index dropped 1.3 percentage points to 51.2 percent this month, while the confidence index for the DPP as a whole also fell 2.1 percentage points to 41.6 percent this month, the survey showed.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CNA
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