Public confidence in politics and the economy has rebounded, while confidence in President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) hit a new high, a survey released by the Chinese-language Global Views Monthly yesterday showed.
The survey, conducted by the Global Views Survey Research Center, showed the public’s confidence in the nation’s political situation climbed to 48.2 points on a scale of zero to 100 points, up 3.9 points from the previous month, while confidence in the economy was also up last month, jumping by 3.4 points from September to 42.5 points.
The public mood index, which combines the political and economic confidence indexes, increased 3.7 points last month to 45.4 points, the highest figure seen in the last few months.
However, despite the increase, public sentiment was still not considered optimistic, the index showed.
According to the survey, if the public mood index registers above 50 points, it would indicate optimism, while a score of below 50 points indicates a negative view.
Meanwhile, the survey showed that the public’s confidence in Ma surged to 50.1 points, reaching its highest level since August last year when Ma’s confidence index plunged to 42 points in the wake of Typhoon Morakot.
Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) was slightly lower in the confidence index at 46.6 points, while confidence in the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) was at 46 points, up by 4.8 points.
Center director Lian Tai (戴立安) attributed the growth in public confidence to an improved performance by the Ma administration and the public’s belief that local economy was in a recovery.
Also in the survey, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) political confidence index dropped by 2.2 points to 49 points, and the DPP’s trust level fell 1.2 points to 41.3 points.
The survey was conducted by telephone from Oct. 14 to Oct. 17 with 1,007 valid responses received. It had a confidence level of 95 percent and a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percent.
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