President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has retaken the lead in his re-election bid over Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), a survey conducted by a US academic showed yesterday.
In the survey conducted by Peter Gries, director of the University of Oklahoma’s Institute for US-China Issues, Ma’s support rate was 34 percent, while Tsai was on 26 percent.
Support for People First Party Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) was at 10 percent, while undecided voters accounted for 30 percent, the survey showed.
If Soong withdrew from the presidential race, his supporters would be more likely to vote for Ma, the poll showed. In this scenario, Ma’s support rose to 45 percent, while Tsai would receive 30 percent of the vote, according to the results Gries presented in Taipei.
The survey, conducted between Nov. 17 and Monday with a sample size of 500 people and a 6.5 percent margin of error, used an Internet survey methodology to avoid biases associated with telephone and face-to-face polls, he said.
In terms of ethnic factors, respondents with a Hakka background were more likely to support Ma than Tsai at almost 60 percent versus 40 percent respectively.
People of Hoklo origin were more ambivalent about the two candidates, each of whom received a support rating of about 50 percent, the poll showed, adding that voters of Mainland descent are highly polarized over the two candidates, with Ma enjoying a support rate of more than 60 percent compared with Tsai’s 30 percent.
The survey also indicated that Ma supporters were slightly more likely to identify themselves as Chinese than Taiwanese, whereas Tsai supporters were more likely to identify themselves as Taiwanese.
When asked about cross-strait policies, most of Tsai’s supporters hoped the DPP presidential candidate would present tough China policies, while Ma’s supporters were more ambivalent about whether the president should be tougher on China, Gries said.
“Policies towards China seemed to be one of the major drivers of vote choice and partisanship … And undecided voters cared more about the economy and other issues,” he said.
Taiwan would benefit from more integrated military strategies and deployments if the US and its allies treat the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea as a “single theater of operations,” a Taiwanese military expert said yesterday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said he made the assessment after two Japanese military experts warned of emerging threats from China based on a drill conducted this month by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theater Command. Japan Institute for National Fundamentals researcher Maki Nakagawa said the drill differed from the
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
A rally held by opposition parties yesterday demonstrates that Taiwan is a democratic country, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that if opposition parties really want to fight dictatorship, they should fight it on Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) held a protest with the theme “against green communists and dictatorship,” and was joined by the Taiwan People’s Party. Lai said the opposition parties are against what they called the “green communists,” but do not fight against the “Chinese communists,” adding that if they really want to fight dictatorship, they should go to the right place and face
RSS