Nearly 65 percent of respondents in a poll by the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) said that both sides of the Taiwan Strait are “independent, sovereign nations that do not belong to each other.”
According to the poll, 64.97 percent said that both sides of the Strait are sovereign entities, while 18 percent said that both sides are “two political entities that belong to one China.”
Just more than 17 percent said they had no clear response to the issue.
Regarding the cross-strait policies of presidential candidates, the poll showed that 13.67 percent of respondents supported Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) candidate Hung Hsiu-chu’s (洪秀柱) “one China, common interpretation,” while 59.48 percent said they do not support it.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) proposed cross-strait policy of “maintaining the status quo” was supported by 64.97 percent of respondents, an increase of 5.58 percentage points from the 59.39 percent in last month’s poll.
Meanwhile, 11.36 percent said they do not support Tsai’s policy, a 4.72 percentage point drop from last month’s 16.08 percent, the poll showed.
People First Party (PFP) presidential candidate James Soong’s (宋楚瑜) proposed policy of “maintaining the ‘status quo’ under the 1992 consensus” had 36.38 percent support, while 30.89 percent said they do not support it and 32.72 percent said they have no opinion on Soong’s proposal.
The “1992 consensus” refers to a tacit understanding between the KMT and the Chinese government that both sides of the Strait acknowledge there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.
Cross-analysis of political inclinations showed that 44.1 percent of KMT supporters said the two sides of the Strait are “independent, sovereign nations that do not belong to each other,” while 37.98 percent said both sides are “two political entities belonging to one China,” the poll showed.
Among DPP supporters polled, 81.07 percent said they back the concept that both sides of the Strait are sovereign entities, while 11.24 percent said both sides are “political entities belonging to one China.”
In terms of demographics, the poll showed that most young people supported the concept that both sides of the Strait are “independent, sovereign nations that do not belong to each other,” with 72.34 percent aged from 20 to 29 in favor and those aged from 30 to 39 showing 71.72 percent support.
Respondents aged 40 to 49 showed 66.04 percent support for sovereign independence and those aged from 50 to 59 years old showed 64.79 percent support.
In the age group 60 to 69 there was 63.64 percent support for the concept, while among those above the age of 70 support stood at 51.02 percent, the poll showed.
The poll was conducted by the Liberty Times polling center on Monday through Wednesday nights.
A total of 1,039 valid responses were collected from people aged 20 or over.
The survey had a margin of error of 3.04 percentage points. Respondents were selected by random sampling of residential phone numbers nationwide.
The survey was financed by the Liberty Times.
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