Public opinion polls released yesterday showed that independent Taipei mayoral hopeful Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) and New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫) remain head and shoulders above their respective opponents in the run-up to the year-end elections, while Taoyuan County Commissioner John Wu (吳志揚) has erased his deficit in the rankings.
The polls in the three constituencies were conducted by the Chinese-language Apple Daily.
Ko is leading Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei matoral candidate Sean Lien (連勝文) with 44.33 percent to 32.82 percent, in a poll conducted on Friday, while Chu of the KMT kept a double-digit lead in support rates, with 48.98 percent to the 37.8 percent posted by his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) rival, former premier Yu Shyi-kun (游錫堃), in a poll conducted between July 5 and Monday last week.
With support from the pan-green camp, Ko increased his advantage over Lien, former Taipei EasyCard Co chairman and son of former vice president Lien Chan (連戰), from 10.6 percentage points in a similar poll last month to 11.5 percentage points as Sean Lien is struggling to revitalize his campaign in Taipei.
Former DPP lawmaker Shen Fu-hsiung (沈富雄), who announced his Taipei mayoral bid on June 13, ranked third at 9.36 percent and award-winning screenwriter Neil Peng (馮光遠) was fourth at 2.58 percent, with 10.91 percent of respondents declining to vote.
Analysts said that Shen, who has switched his political allegiance to the pan-blue camp after withdrawing from the DPP, could be a spoiler for Lien.
In response to the poll, Ko said support rates “rise and fall like the stock market index” and he would not interpret the surveys on a daily basis.
Lien said he had seen the results of several polls and they all differed, adding that his campaign would not be affected by them.
In the New Taipei City race, Chu remained far ahead of Yu with a 11.2-percentage point lead, but saw his advantage evaporate by almost 20 percentage points in a month, the poll showed. In a poll conducted by the Apple Daily last month, Chu led Yu by almost 30 percentage points, 53.47 percent to 25.6 percent.
A poll in Taoyuan County found that Wu appeared to have survived a slump last month, when he was hurt by a corruption scandal involving his deputy, Yeh Shih-wen (葉世文), and trailed DPP candidate Cheng Wen-tsang (鄭文燦) by 5.5 percentage points.
According to the survey, Wu is hanging on to a small lead — 42.53 percent to 39.6 percent — over Cheng, which fell closely within the margin of error, with 17.77 percent of respondents undecided.
US President Donald Trump said "it’s up to" Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) what China does on Taiwan, but that he would be "very unhappy" with a change in the "status quo," the New York Times said in an interview published yesterday. Xi "considers it to be a part of China, and that’s up to him what he’s going to be doing," Trump told the newspaper on Wednesday. "But I’ve expressed to him that I would be very unhappy if he did that, and I don’t think he’ll do that," he added. "I hope he doesn’t do that." Trump made the comments in
NOT AN OPENING: Trump’s violation of international law does not affect China’s consideration in attacking Taiwan; Beijing lacks capability, not precedent, an official said Taiwanese officials see the US’ capture of the president of Venezuela as a powerful deterrent to Beijing’s aggression and a timely reminder of the US’ ability to defeat militaries equipped with Chinese-made weapons. The strikes that toppled Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro signaled to authoritarian leaders, including Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), US President Donald Trump’s willingness to use military might for international affairs core to US interests, one senior official in Taipei’s security circle said. That reassured Taiwan, the person said. Taipei has also dismissed the idea that Trump’s apparent violation of international law could embolden Beijing, said the official, who was not
A cold surge advisory was today issued for 18 cities and counties across Taiwan, with temperatures of below 10°C forecast during the day and into tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. New Taipei City, Taipei, Taoyuan and Hsinchu, Miaoli and Yilan counties are expected to experience sustained temperatures of 10°C or lower, the CWA said. Temperatures are likely to temporarily drop below 10°C in most other areas, except Taitung, Pingtung, Penghu and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, CWA data showed. The cold weather is being caused by a strong continental cold air mass, combined with radiative cooling, a process in which heat escapes from
Snow this morning fell on Alishan for the first time in seven years, as a strong continental cold air mass sent temperatures plunging across Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The Alishan weather station, located at an elevation of about 2,200m in central Taiwan, recorded snowfall from 8:55am to 9:15am, when the temperature dropped to about 1°C, the CWA said. With increased moisture and low temperatures in the high-altitude Alishan area, the conditions were favorable for snow, CWA forecaster Tsai Yi-chi (蔡伊其) said. The last time snow fell at the Alishan weather station was on Jan. 10, 2018, while graupel fell there
RSS