If voting day were tomorrow, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) would lead her main rival, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), by 2.1 percentage points, a poll by the Taiwan Brain Trust showed yesterday.
According to the survey, DPP Chairperson Tsai and her running mate, DPP Secretary-General Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全), would obtain 40.4 percent of the vote, against Ma and Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) at 38.3, while People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) and his vice presidential candidate, Lin Ruey-shiung (林瑞雄), would garner 7.3 percent.
The poll showed that 86.7 percent of eligible voters intended to vote in next month’s elections.
However, in terms of their expectations of the outcome on Jan. 14, only 30.4 percent of respondents said the Tsai-Su ticket would win, against 43.1 percent who said the Ma-Wu pairing would win, which highlights a lack of confidence in the DPP ticket’s chances in the election.
Chen Jin-ji (陳錦稷), head of the Taiwan Brain Trust Poll Research Center, said the recent war of words between the KMT and DPP over the Yu Chang Biologics Co case had created concerns among voters of government intervention in the elections, with 42.8 percent of respondents saying the KMT was using administrative resources to benefit Ma, against 35 percent who believed this was not the case.
Slightly more than 43 percent said the judicial system was intervening in the elections and there was an issue of selective investigation of cases, while 35.4 felt the opposite.
In terms of votes for parties, Chen said 37.1 percent of respondents supported the KMT, 32.8 percent supported the DPP, 0.9 percent supported the New Party, 4.3 percent supported the PFP and 19.1 percent did not know or refused to answer.
The poll was conducted on Friday and Saturday, using home phone numbers from Chunghwa Telecom as the basis to poll adult voters in Taiwan, with 1,071 valid responses and a confidence rate of 95 percent.
The margin of error was plus or minus 3 percent.
Commenting on recent polls, Soong said he often came in first in Internet polling and called on the media to pay more attention to such means of polling.
Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr arrived in Taiwan last night to kick off his first visit to the country since beginning his second term earlier this year. After arriving at Taoyuan International Airport at around 6:30 pm, Whipps and his delegation were welcomed by Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍). Speaking to gathered media, the Palauan leader said he was excited and honored to be back in Taiwan on his first state visit to Taiwan since he was sworn in this January. Among those traveling with Whipps is Minister of State Gustav N. Aitaro, Public Infrastructure
RESOLUTIONS DEBATE: Taiwan’s allies said that UN and WHA resolutions cited by China and other nations ‘do not determine Taiwan’s participation in WHO activities’ A proposal to invite Taiwan to this year’s World Health Assembly (WHA) was rejected on Monday, resulting in Taipei’s absence from the annual meeting for a ninth consecutive year, although partners spoke up for Taiwan’s participation at the first day of the meeting. The first agenda item after the opening was a “two-on-two debate” on a proposal to invite Taiwan to participate at the WHA as an observer. Similar to previous years, two countries made statements in favor of the proposal, while two others expressed their opposition. Philippine Secretary of Health Teodoro Herbosa, president of the 78th WHA, accepted the WHA General Committee’s
President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday thanked Palau for its continued support of Taiwan's international participation, as Taipei was once again excluded from the World Health Assembly (WHA) currently taking place in Switzerland. "Palau has never stopped voicing support for Taiwan" in the UN General Assembly, the WHO and other UN-affiliated agencies, Lai said during a bilateral meeting with visiting Palau President Surangel Whipps Jr. "We have been profoundly touched by these endorsements," Lai said, praising the Pacific island nation's firm support as "courageous." Lai's remarks came as Taiwan was excluded for the ninth consecutive year from the WHA, which is being held in
At least three people died and more than a dozen were injured yesterday afternoon when a vehicle struck a group of pedestrians in New Taipei City’s Sansia District (三峽). The incident happened at about 4pm when a car rammed into pedestrians at an intersection near Bei Da Elementary School. Witnesses said the sedan, being driven at a high speed, ran a red light, knocking scooters out of the way and hitting students crossing the road before careening into a median near the intersection of Guocheng and Guoguang streets. The incident resulted in three deaths and 13 injuries, including the driver, a 78-year-old man
RSS