A majority of people believe that legislators, regardless of their party affiliation, place their parties, families, factions or specific interest groups far above the needs of the public, a public opinion poll showed yesterday.
The survey, conducted by Taiwan Indicator Survey Research (TISR), found that only 16.7 percent of respondents said they were satisfied with the performance of lawmakers, while 61.5 percent said they were unsatisfied and 33.3 percent did not answer.
More than half, or 57.2 percent, of those polled said the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) legislative majority was not helpful to effective governance by President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration, a TISR press release said.
Asked for whose benefit KMT lawmakers worked, 26.4 percent of respondents said they worked primarily for their party, followed by 19.7 percent who cited businesses and specific groups, while families and factions was chosen by 18.7 percent.
Only 7.5 percent of respondents said that KMT lawmakers strived for the benefit of the public, slightly above the 7.1 percent who said lawmakers work for voters in their constituencies.
Respondents’ impressions of the Democratic Progresive Party (DPP) were similar, with 26.3 percent saying that the party mattered most to DPP lawmakers, while 17.3 percent said DPP lawmakers sought advantages for their families and factions.
However, in contrast with the KMT, 16 percent of respondents said that DPP legislators cared most about the welfare of the public, while 8 percent of those polled said DPP lawmakers sought benefits for businesses and specific interests groups.
According to the poll, 55.6 percent of respondents have forgotten who they voted for in the legislative elections in January last year, with only 23.6 percent remembering who they voted for.
The survey also showed that President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) credibility rating of 21.4 percent was the lowest since he was first inaugurated in May 2008, while his approval rating stood at a low 17.3 percent.
Meanwhile, the disapproval rating for Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺), at 47.3 percent, was the highest since he took the post in February, the poll found.
The survey, conducted on Monday and Tuesday, collected 1,005 valid samples and had a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points.
A series of discussions on the legacy of martial law and authoritarianism are to be held at the Taipei International Book Exhibition this month, featuring findings and analysis by the Transitional Justice Commission. The commission and publisher Book Republic organized the series, entitled “Escaping the Nation’s Labyrinth of Memory: What Authoritarian Symbols and Records Can Tell Us,” to help people navigate narratives through textual analysis and comparisons with other nations. The four-day series is to begin on Thursday next week with a discussion between commission Chairwoman Yang Tsui (楊翠), Polish-language translator Lin Wei-yun (林蔚昀), and Polish author and artist Pawel Gorecki comparing
‘EFFECTIVE DETERRENCE’: If the Biden administration suspends arms sales to Taiwan, the military could still ready a nimble fighting force for defense, an analyst said The “US Strategic Framework for the Indo-Pacific” last week sparked debate among analysts after US President Donald Trump declassified the document 20 years ahead of schedule. Trump on Tuesday last week released the document that had governed US strategic action in the region since the US leader approved its use in 2018. The document, which outlines US priorities in the region, emphasizes the importance of defending Taiwan against military aggression and facilitating the country’s development of asymmetric strategies and capabilities. The overall directive of the document is for the US to prevent China from establishing sustained air and sea dominance inside the first
MOVING OUT: A former professor said that rent and early education costs in Taipei are the nation’s highest, which makes it difficult for young people to start families The population of Taipei last year fell to the lowest in 23 years due to high rent, more transportation options and the expansion of northern cities into a single metropolis, academics and city officials said on Monday. Data released this month by the Ministry of the Interior showed that the capital was home to 2,602,418 people last year, down 42,623 from 2019. The decline is second only to 1993, when the population fell by 42,828 people, while Taipei’s population was the lowest it has been since 1997. Taipei saw the biggest drop among the six special municipalities, while Taoyuan led the group in
A legislator yesterday called for authorities to investigate the sale of Chinese-made, Internet-connected karaoke machines containing “propaganda songs.” Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃) said she was approached by a person who had discovered Chinese patriotic songs such as My Motherland (我的祖國) — which is commonly referred to as China’s “second national anthem” — in Chinese-made karaoke devices sold in Taiwan. The machines are popular, as they can connect to the Internet, providing access to thousands of songs, she said. One retailer, who asked to remain anonymous, said that the machines first entered the local market about three years ago, starting with
RSS