A poll by Taiwan Indicators Survey Research (TISR) yesterday showed that 53.6 percent of respondents consider it inappropriate for the president to double as a party chairperson, compared with 32.1 percent of respondents who said it was okay.
The latest figures show that people’s attitude toward a president also being the ruling party’s head is not significantly affected by a transfer of political power, the group said, adding that in 2013, 59.6 percent of respondents were against it, in 2008, 58.3 percent, and in 2004, 46.8 percent.
“It shows that most of the people hope the president could put their responsibilities and obligations as the nation’s leader on top of their priority list,” TISR said.
The poll also found that with the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) securing 60 percent of the legislative seats in the Jan. 16 elections, 60.1 percent of respondents said that they have faith in the party’s resolution in legislative reforms, while 29.8 percent expressed distrust.
Regarding public support for possible candidates for the new legislative speaker and deputy legislative speaker positions, 28.4 percent of respondents said that they would endorse former minister of the interior and DPP legislator-at-large-elect Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全), 21.8 percent supported outgoing Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平), 15.2 percent supported DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) and 3.6 percent supported DPP Legislator Chen Ming-wen (陳明文).
Meanwhile, 2.3 percent said that all of the candidates would be acceptable, while 7.7 percent said that they accepted none.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) nominated Legislator Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆) to compete for the speakership during the survey period. After the swap in KMT candidate, the order of preference was: 34.8 percent supported Su, 14.9 percent supported Lai, 11.5 percent supported Ker and 3.1 percent supported Chen.
Meanwhile, 3.5 percent said they accepted all of the candidates, while 7.7 percent said they accepted none.
A further analysis of the results found that DPP supporters accept Su as legislative speaker more than they do Ker or Chen, and that the percentage of KMT supporters who hope to see Wang as legislative speaker is higher than that of those who want Lai to take over the office.
It has also been found that Wang is most acceptable among people aged 20 to 29, 34.9 percent of whom said they could accept Wang as speaker.
The survey was conducted from Sunday to Tuesday, with 1,121 adults responding and a margin of error of 2.8 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
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