President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) approval rating has reached an 11- month high, although it remained at about 32 percent, a poll in the Chinese-language Global Views magazine showed yesterday.
The poll, conducted by the Global Views Survey Research Center, put Ma’s approval at 32.3 percent, up 3.9 percentage points from last month — the highest since last August. His disapproval rating grew 0.6 percent to 56.2 percent.
Ma’s trust index increased 6 percentage points from last month to 44.3 percent, balanced against a distrust index of 42.0 percent — down 1.3 percentage points. This marks the first time in 10 months that his trust index outweighs his distrust index.
The pollster attributed the results to successes in Ma’s cross-strait policy, especially the signing of the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) with China.
POST-ECFA BUMP
About 36 percent of respondents said they had more confidence in Ma’s cross-strait policy after the pact was signed.
About 31 percent said the agreement made them lose confidence, 13.7 percent said the accord did not change their view and 19.5 percent did not express any opinion.
Among those who claimed to have read the contents of the agreement, 50.1 percent said they had more confidence in Ma’s cross-strait policy after the agreement was signed compared with 30.9 percent that said they did not.
While Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) said he would like to see 60 percent public approval of the accord before it was signed, the poll found only 47.1 percent supported the ECFA, a 0.9 percent increase from last month.
As many as 33.9 percent said they did not back the agreement — down 2 percentage points from last month — and 19.1 percent did not give any opinion.
However, 63.7 percent of those who claimed they had read the pact’s 16 articles said they backed the signing of the deal, compared with 33.8 percent who said they did not.
Asked about the ECFA, 44.7 percent said it would produce more advantages than disadvantages, 35.6 percent said the disadvantages outweighed the advantages, and 2.2 percent said the advantages and disadvantages were equal.
DPP BACKING
About 43 percent of respondents said the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) should support the ECFA, while 32.3 percent said they should not and 24.9 percent did not express an opinion.
Sixty percent of respondents who said they had read the agreement said the DPP should back it, while 27.5 percent said they should not.
As the legislature planned to call a second provisional session next month to pass the accord, 56.4 percent said lawmakers should meet to examine the ECFA and 24.2 percent said they should not.
DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said the party would initiate a referendum on the ECFA if it returned to power in 2012.
More than 52 percent of respondents said they did not think the pact should be repealed and 30.4 percent said it should.
Despite the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) legislative majority, 63.7 percent of respondents said they were not happy with the party’s performance — up 5.5 percent from last month. Twenty-one percent said they were satisfied, a decrease of 0.9 percentage points from last month.
The poll was conducted between Wednesday and Friday last week, with 1,010 adults surveyed nationwide.
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