President Ma Ying-jeou's (馬英九) approval rating stood at 46.8 percent in the latest opinion poll released by the Cabinet's Research, Development and Evaluation Commission over the weekend.
The results of the telephone poll released on Sunday showed that 43.8 percent of respondents were dissatisfied with his performance since he took office in May 2008.
The poll also found that respondents were satisfied with the Ma administration's efforts to improve relations across the Taiwan Strait, giving him an approval rating of 68.3 percent for his efforts in that regard.
The poll showed that 55.3 percent of respondents still supported Ma, while 32.1 percent said they did not support him.
Meanwhile, 50.2 percent said they were satisfied with Premier Wu Den-yih's (吳敦義) performance, while 31.7 percent gave him the thumbs-down.
The poll, conducted on Tuesday and Wednesday last week, also found that 47.9 percent of respondents were satisfied with the Cabinet’s performance, compared with 37.4 percent who said they were not satisfied.
On specific aspects of government, the Ma administration's respect for democracy and rule of law gained an approval rating of 55.1 percent; its efforts to boost the economy, 54.3 percent; and its political integrity, 51 percent.
The government's performance in environmental protection and ecological conservation was given a 46.2 percent approval rating; its fiscal management, 45.4 percent; and its work in educational and cultural development, 45 percent.
The respondents were divided over the question of whether the administrative team is efficient, with 42.7 percent giving a thumbs-down, while 41.3 percent gave a positive rating.
Overall, 49.9 percent said they were confident that the government would perform better in the coming year, while 40.1 percent said they did not believe there would be any improvement.
The opinion poll had a confidence level of 95 percent and a margin of error of 2.98 percent.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”
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