Public confidence in Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and her party reached new highs this month while President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) trust level continued to drop, the latest poll released by the Chinese-language Global Views Monthly magazine showed.
The poll, conducted by the Global Views Survey Research Center, put Tsai’s confidence index at 52.3 points on a scale of 0 to 100. The figure represented an increase of 1.1 points from last month and was the highest since May.
Ma’s confidence index, meanwhile, dropped 0.3 points from last month to 47.2 this month. It reached 50.1 in October, the highest since August last year. Meanwhile, the trust level for Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) rose 0.4 points to 45.9.
Overall, public confidence in the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) was 45.5 this month, up 1.8 points.
Confidence in the DPP increased 2.3 points to 44, an all-time high since the center began the survey in July 2006.
Center director Lian Tai (戴立安) attributed the growing confidence in Tsai and her party to a positive public impression of the DPP, which won Greater Tainan and Greater Kaohsiung in last month’s five special municipality elections. The party also won the popular vote by 5 percentage points, or about 400,000 votes, despite only winning two of the five mayoral seats up for grabs.
Meanwhile, the Taiwan Public Mood Index (TPMI) this month edged up 3.2 points to 46.4. Although it remained below 50, it was the highest since the survey was launched in July 2006.
TPMI consists of two indexes: the political confidence index (PCI) and the economic confidence index (ECI).
The PCI was 50.9 this month — up 3.4 points. It was the first time the figure has been above the 50-mark since September last year. The ECI this month was 41.9 — the second highest since the survey was established. The ECI reached the highest in October, with 42.5 points.
Tai said although the figures reflected growing confidence in the economy, public confidence in Ma had yet to recover, he said.
On the political front, the poll showed the index for political optimism increased 7.4 points to 57.9. The political stability index for next month was 53.4 — an increase of 9.2 points — and the level of trust in cross-strait detente for next month grew 5.7 points to 62.4.
On the economic front, the current economic situation index was 34.6 points, a rise of 2.1 points from last month. The economic optimism index advanced 3.9 to 49.2 points.
The poll surveyed 1,008 adults nationwide from Dec. 13 to Dec. 15, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.
‘NON-RED’: Taiwan and Ireland should work together to foster a values-driven, democratic economic system, leveraging their complementary industries, Lai said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday expressed hopes for closer ties between Taiwan and Ireland, and that both countries could collaborate to create a values-driven, democracy-centered economic system. He made the remarks while meeting with an Irish cross-party parliamentary delegation visiting Taiwan. The delegation, led by John McGuinness, deputy speaker of the Irish house of representatives, known as the Dail, includes Irish lawmakers Malcolm Byrne, Barry Ward, Ken O’Flynn and Teresa Costello. McGuinness, who chairs the Ireland-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Association, is a friend of Taiwan, and under his leadership, the association’s influence has grown over the past few years, Lai said. Ireland is
A saleswoman, surnamed Chen (陳), earlier this month was handed an 18-month prison term for embezzling more than 2,000 pairs of shoes while working at a department store in Tainan. The Tainan District Court convicted Chen of embezzlement in a ruling on July 7, sentencing her to prison for illegally profiting NT$7.32 million (US$248,929) at the expense of her employer. Chen was also given the opportunity to reach a financial settlement, but she declined. Chen was responsible for the sales counter of Nike shoes at Tainan’s Shinkong Mitsukoshi Zhongshan branch, where she had been employed since October 2019. She had previously worked
FINAL COUNTDOWN: About 50,000 attended a pro-recall rally yesterday, while the KMT and the TPP plan to rally against the recall votes today Democracy activists, together with arts and education representatives, yesterday organized a motorcade, while thousands gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei in the evening in support of tomorrow’s recall votes. Recall votes for 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and suspended Hsinchu City mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) are to be held tomorrow, while recall votes for seven other KMT lawmakers are scheduled for Aug. 23. The afternoon motorcade was led by the Spring Breeze Culture and Arts Foundation, the Tyzen Hsiao Foundation and the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association, and was joined by delegates from the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and the Taiwan Solidarity
The Taipei District Court today ruled to extend the incommunicado detention of former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) and Taipei City Councilor Angela Ying (應曉薇) for two more months as part of an ongoing corruption trial. Codefendants in the case — real-estate tycoon Sheen Ching-jing (沈慶京) and Ko's former mayoral office head Lee Wen-tsung (李文宗) — were granted bail of NT$100 million (US$3.4 million) and NT$20 million respectively. Sheen and Lee would also be barred from leaving the country for eight months and prohibited from contact with, harassing, threatening or inquiring after the case with codefendants or witnesses. The two would also be