President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) trust index fell slightly this month and remained below 50, while that of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) reached a new high, a poll by the Chinese-language Global Views magazine showed yesterday.
The poll, conducted by the Global Views Survey Research Center, put Ma’s trust index at 43.9 on a scale of 100, down 0.2 points from last month. The level of trust in Tsai stood at 53.2 points, an increase of 1.3 points over last month’s poll.
It was the sixth month in a row that Tsai’s trust index has been higher than Ma’s. Tsai’s confidence index has remained above 50 since December last year.
It is also the fourth straight month that Premier Wu Den-yih’s (吳敦義) confidence index has been higher than Ma’s, but the figure has remained below 50 since November last year and is at its lowest since former premier Liu Chiao-shiun (劉兆玄) was rated 35.5 in August 2008.
Increasing confidence in Tsai has also spread to her party, whose level of trust rose 1.2 points to 42. That is only 0.2 points less than the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), where Ma doubles as chairman.
The public mood index (TPMI) this month remained below 50 at 42.5 points, up 0.4 from last month.
The TPMI consists of two indexes: The political confidence index (PCI) and the economic confidence index (ECI). The PCI was 46.6 this month, while the ECI was 38.3.
The figures represented increases of 0.1 and 0.7 points respectively over the previous month.
On the political front, respondents’ confidence in the Ma administration was 44.3 points, the same as the previous month.
The index for political optimism grew 0.2 points to 50.0. Political stability remained the same at 40.4 points and the level of trust that the cross-strait detente will be maintained was 59.5, the highest since December last year.
On the economic front, the current economic situation index was 30 points, an increase of 1.1 points from last month.
The economic optimism index increased by 0.4 points to 46.7 points. Last month’s figure, 46.3 points, was the lowest this year.
Next month’s index for the improvement of the domestic economy fell by 0.1 points to 48.4 and the improvement in personal finances index was up 1 point to 45.
The poll surveyed 1,001 adults around the nation between April 14 and April 16.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was sentenced to six months in prison, commutable to a fine, by the New Taipei District Court today for contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in a case linked to an alleged draft-dodging scheme. Wang allegedly paid NT$3.6 million (US$114,380) to an illegal group to help him evade mandatory military service through falsified medical documents, prosecutors said. He transferred the funds to Chen Chih-ming (陳志明), the alleged mastermind of a draft-evasion ring, although he lost contact with him as he was already in detention on fraud charges, they said. Chen is accused of helping a
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
NON-RED SUPPLY: Boosting the nation’s drone industry is becoming increasingly urgent as China’s UAV dominance could become an issue in a crisis, an analyst said Taiwan’s drone exports to Europe grew 41.7-fold from 2024 to last year, with demand from Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression the most likely driver of growth, a study showed. The Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET) in a statement on Wednesday said it found that many of Taiwan’s uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) sales were from Poland and the Czech Republic. These countries likely transferred the drones to Ukraine to aid it in its fight against the Russian invasion that started in 2022, it said. Despite the gains, Taiwan is not the dominant drone exporter to these markets, ranking second and fourth
The eastern extension of the Taipei MRT Red Line could begin operations as early as late June, the Taipei Department of Rapid Transit Systems said yesterday. Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said it is considering offering one month of free rides on the new section to mark its opening. Construction progress on the 1.4km extension, which is to run from the current terminal Xiangshan Station to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, was 90.6 percent complete by the end of last month, the department said in a report to the Taipei City Council's Transportation Committee. While construction began in October 2016 with an
RSS