A recent Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) poll for the Sinbei City mayoral race showed DPP candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) slightly ahead of her Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) rival, Eric Chu (朱立倫).
The survey, taken in the middle of last week, gave Tsai a 43.5 percent support rate among voters in Taipei County — soon to be renamed Sinbei City — against 43.1 percent for Chu. While well within the margin of error, the numbers were still at odds with most other recent media surveys, which have given Chu a double-digit lead.
Dismissing the latest opposition party poll, Chu said that as long as his rival “felt a bit more secure,” he would congratulate her and “continue to work hard on my own campaign.”
Photo: CNA
A poll by the Chinese-language Apple Daily released on Monday last week showed Chu leading Tsai 48 percent against 35 percent. Meanwhile, the Chinese-language United Daily News claimed on Oct. 2 that Chu had 45 percent support to Tsai’s 28 percent.
In a press conference to explain the DPP survey, poll center director Chen Chun-lin (陳俊麟) said the newest numbers were consistent with the two previous polls conducted by the opposition party last month and in August. In both polls the difference was within 1 percent, he said.
On Tsai’s small lead, he said the candidate received more support from younger voters, with about 62 percent of voters between 20 and 29 expressing support for her -campaign. Chu, he said, received more votes from middle class voters, with 51.8 percent from the 40 to 49 age bracket supporting his campaign.
Rejecting claims that Chu had far surpassed Tsai in the number of election events held, the survey also pointed out that 20 percent of respondents said that they had seen Tsai hold an election event in their neighborhood. The number for Chu was 17 percent. The DPP survey polled 1,355 -voting-age respondents and had a margin of error of 2.7 percent.
Former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) yesterday visited Tsai at her campaign headquarters, saying he “especially supported” her and called on supporters to give the DPP candidate a chance. If everyone stood together, he said, the DPP would have a chance of winning all five mayoral seats in the Nov. 27 elections.
FAST TRACK? Chinese spouses must renounce their Chinese citizenship and pledge allegiance to Taiwan to gain citizenship, some demonstrators said Opponents and supporters of a bill that would allow Chinese spouses to obtain Taiwanese citizenship in four years instead of six staged protests near the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday morning. Those who oppose the bill proposed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) demanded that Chinese spouses be granted citizenship only after renouncing their Chinese citizenship, passing a citizenship test and pledging allegiance to Taiwan. The demonstrators, who were protesting at a side entrance to the Legislative Yuan on Jinan Road, were mostly members of the Taiwan Association of University Professors and other organizations advocating Taiwanese independence. Supporters of the bill, led
SILENT MAJORITY: Only 1 percent of Chinese rejected all options but war to annex Taiwan, while one-third viewed war as unacceptable, a university study showed Many Chinese are more concerned with developments inside their country than with seeking unification with Taiwan, al-Jazeera reported on Friday. Although China claims Taiwan as its own territory and has vowed to annex it, by force if necessary, 23-year-old Chinese Shao Hongtian was quoted by al-Jazeera as saying that “hostilities are not the way to bring China and Taiwan together.” “I want unification to happen peacefully,” Shao said. Al-Jazeera said it changed Shao’s name to respect his wish for anonymity. If peaceful unification is not possible, Shao said he would prefer “things to remain as they are,” adding that many of his friends feel
Taiwan has “absolute air superiority” over China in its own airspace, Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) told a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee on Monday, amid concern over whether Taipei could defend itself against a military incursion by Beijing. Po made the remarks in response to a question from Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) on whether Taiwan would have partial or complete air superiority if Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) warplanes were to enter Taiwan’s airspace. Po, a retired pilot, said that the Taiwanese military has “absolute air superiority” over PLA
A shipment of basil pesto imported by Costco Wholesale Taiwan from the US in the middle of last month was intercepted at the border after testing positive for excessive pesticide residue, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. Samples taken from a shipment of the Kirkland Signature brand of basil pesto imported by Costco contained 0.1 milligrams per kilogram of ethylene oxide, exceeding the non-detectable limit. Ethylene oxide is a carcinogenic substance that can be used as a pesticide. The 674kg shipment of basil pesto would either be destroyed or returned to its country of origin, as is the procedure for all