Tainan Mayor William Lai’s (賴清德) handling of disaster relief efforts and search-and-rescue operations in the wake of the earthquake that hit southern Taiwan on Feb. 6, which killed 116 people, was approved by 88 percent of respondents in Tainan, according to poll results released by Television Broadcasts Satellite (TVBS) yesterday.
Five percent of the respondents did not approve Lai’s management, while 7 percent said they had no opinion, the results showed.
Cross-analysis of the poll showed that support for Lai, a member of the Democratic Progress Party (DPP), cut across the city’s geographical and ideological lines.
For example, Lai’s approval rating in the Yongkang (永康) and Rende districts (仁德) was 91 percent, higher than the average, even though the two districts suffered more losses of lives and property in the quake, the poll showed.
While 95 percent of respondents who identified with the DPP approved of Lai’s performance, 85 percent of independents and 75 percent of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) voters said they also approved of his performance, the poll showed.
In addition, 79 percent of the respondents expressed confidence in Lai’s overall crisis-management skills, while 73 percent said they felt confident about the direction the mayor is taking in the city’s recovery, with 13 percent saying they do not feel hopeful.
Several assertions critical of Lai, which were later proven to be unfounded, were made on social media, including one that accused Lai of leaving the scene of the collapsed Weiguan Jinlong complex to enjoy a Lunar New Year’s Eve dinner with his family.
The poll can be seen as evidence that Lai’s reputation has emerged unscathed in spite of the quake and the attacks by his critics.
The poll, conducted by TVBS on Tuesday and Wednesday, had 1,100 valid samples and a margin of error of 3 percentage points.
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