President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has become a lame duck president with persistent low approval ratings and people have given up hope in him, academics said yesterday, after the results of a recent opinion poll were released.
Ma’s approval rating has dropped to a record-low 19.1 percent, and 60 percent of respondents said they did not expect a better performance from Ma in the remainder of his second term, the poll showed.
The survey, conducted by Taiwan Thinktank, polled respondents on Ma’s performance, as well as their views on public policies, such as the national referendum on the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant, the 12-year compulsory education system and pension reform.
Photo: Wang Min-wei, Taipei Times
The survey found Ma’s approval rating was a dismal 19.1 percent, the lowest since the think tank began conducting a monthly tracking poll in March last year, and 69.9 percent of those polled said they were unsatisfied with his performance.
On a scale of one to 10, Ma only received a passing score of 5.19 on personal integrity and scored no more than 3.76 in the other five categories: understanding people’s needs, government personnel, promoting the economy, promoting social justice and safeguarding the nation’s sovereignty.
Overall, Ma scored 3.66 for his performance over the first year of his second term, the survey found.
Asked whether they expected Ma to do better in the remaining three years of his term, which began on May 20 last year, 60 percent of the respondents said ‘no,’ with only 28.8 percent saying that they still have hope.
“In general, Ma has been an arbitrary ruler in domestic affairs and a soft leader in external affairs,” Taiwan Thinktank president Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍), a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmaker, told a press conference.
The responses to other questions in the poll showed widespread public opposition to, and doubts about, government policies, Lin said, adding that “that is why Ma is insisting on running for another term as Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT] chairman.”
“He has failed in too many areas and is already a lame duck, so the only way he can hang onto power is by controlling distribution rights as KMT chairman,” Lin said.
On the nuclear issue, 67 percent of the respondents said a national referendum over the construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant should be held only after nuclear safety of the plant is assured, despite the government saying that the referendum and safety were different issues.
Almost half, or 49.2 percent of those polled, said they would support an opposition boycott at the Legislative Yuan if the government insisted on holding the referendum before safety checks at the plant are completed.
However, 75 percent of the respondents said they did not trust the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ inspection panel and 65.4 percent of the respondents said they would support halting the construction of the plant in the referendum.
Asked about pension reform, 67.4 percent of respondents said Ma’s current plan for reforms favored civil servants over private-sector workers.
Eighty percent of those polled were unfamiliar with the 12-year compulsory education system, with 69.1 percent saying that they had no confidence in the system.
A majority of respondents questioned Ma’s determination to fight corruption, with 67.6 percent saying that the judiciary had applied different standards in the corruption cases of former Executive Yuan secretary-general Lin Yi-shih (林益世) and former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), while 68.8 percent said Ma was not serious about combating graft.
“In examination of the ‘three P’s’ — personality, performance and policy — of Ma, it appeared that we could find little optimism about Ma’s future,” Academia Sinica assistant research fellow David Huang (黃偉峰) said.
The poll, conducted between Tuesday and Friday, collected 1,069 valid samples and had a margin of error of 3 percentage points.
The government should improve children’s outdoor spaces and accelerate carbon reduction programs, as the risk of heat-related injury due to high summer temperatures rises each year, Greenpeace told a news conference yesterday. Greenpeace examined summer temperatures in Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Hsinchu City, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung to determine the effects of high temperatures and climate change on children’s outdoor activities, citing data garnered by China Medical University, which defines a wet-bulb globe temperature (WBGT) of 29°C or higher as posing the risk of heat-related injury. According to the Central Weather Administration, WBGT, commonly referred to as the heat index, estimates
The Taipei Department of Health’s latest inspection of fresh fruit and vegetables sold in local markets revealed a 25 percent failure rate, with most contraventions involving excessive pesticide residues, while two durians were also found to contain heavy metal cadmium at levels exceeding safety limits. Health Food and Drug Division Director Lin Kuan-chen (林冠蓁) yesterday said the agency routinely conducts inspections of fresh produce sold at traditional markets, supermarkets, hypermarkets, retail outlets and restaurants, testing for pesticide residues and other harmful substances. In its most recent inspection, conducted in May, the department randomly collected 52 samples from various locations, with testing showing
Taipei and other northern cities are to host air-raid drills from 1:30pm to 2pm tomorrow as part of urban resilience drills held alongside the Han Kuang exercises, Taiwan’s largest annual military exercises. Taipei, New Taipei City, Keelung, Taoyuan, Yilan County, Hsinchu City and Hsinchu County are to hold the annual Wanan air defense exercise tomorrow, following similar drills held in central and southern Taiwan yesterday and today respectively. The Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) and Maokong Gondola are to run as usual, although stations and passenger parking lots would have an “entry only, no exit” policy once air raid sirens sound, Taipei
Taipei placed 14th in the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) Best Student Cities 2026 list, its highest ever, according to results released yesterday. With an overall score of 89.1, the city climbed 12 places from the previous year, surpassing its previous best ranking of 17th in 2019. Taipei is “one of Asia’s leading higher-education hubs,” with strong employer activity scores and students “enjoying their experience of the city and often keen to stay after graduation,” a QS staff writer said. In addition to Taipei, Hsinchu (71st), Tainan (92nd), Taichung (113th) and Taoyuan (130th) also made QS’ list of the top 150 student cities. Hsinchu showed the