A survey released by the Taiwan Thinktank yesterday showed overwhelming support for the abolition of the Red Cross Society Act of the Republic of China (中華民國紅十字會法), with 85.9 percent favoring the scrapping of the legislation, against 7.7 percent who disagreed.
The motion to abolish the act was raised by the New Power Party and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in February, saying it gave the group special legal status and exempts it from regulations stipulated in the Civil Associations Act (人民團體法) and the Charity Donations Act (公益勸募條例).
Scrapping the Red Cross Act would facilitate the implementation of “transitional justice,” the two parties have said.
Photo: Lo Pei-der, Taipei Times
According to the poll, 82 percent of respondents said they are not willing to donate to the society if it does not make its accounting transparent. A breakdown by party affiliation showed that 89.1 percent of DPP respondents and 65.5 percent of their KMT counterparts are not willing to make such donations.
Taiwan Brain Trust deputy director-general Lai Yi-chung (賴怡忠) added that 89 percent of DPP supporters and 81.9 percent of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) supporters favor abolishing the act.
Asked about the “zero nuclear” policy of the administration of President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), 84.4 percent of respondents backed the promotion of renewable resources, and agreed that solar and wind power were viable alternatives for power generation.
In addition, 66.5 percent of respondents thought that nuclear-generated electricity was not “cheap,” after taking into account the cost of processing nuclear waste.
The survey also revealed public distrust in the nation’s power utility company, with 60 percent of respondents saying they were skeptical of Taiwan Power Co’s estimates of the nation’s power generation and consumption.
The Taiwan Thinktank survey also covered public perception of the new Cabinet’s performance, which like the TVBS Survey Center poll released on Friday, showed faltering support for Premier Lin Chuan (林全).
Only 42.7 percent of respondents were satisfied with Lin’s performance in his first month in office, while 33.7 percent were dissatisfied, mainly because of his handling of flooding at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on June 2, the Taiwan Thinktank poll showed.
That represented a drop of 4.3 percentage points in his approval rating and a jump of 18.9 percentage points in his disapproval rating compared with a previous poll on June 3.
Tsai’s approval rating also slid 3.1 percentage points to 49.3 percent, while her disapproval rating rose 10.3 percentage points to 22.6 percent.
Among those who expressed dissatisfaction with Lin’s performance, 32.1 percent pointed to his handling of the Taoyuan airport flooding as the main reason, while 26.6 percent mentioned the government’s stance on imports of US pork containing ractopamine.
Another 24.5 percent said they were dissatisfied with the government’s decision to abolish toll-free hours on freeways during long holidays.
An analysis of the survey by region showed that people in Yunlin, Chiayi, Nantou, Kaohsiung and Pingtung were most dissatisfied with the government’s handling of the Taoyuan airport flooding.
In Kaohsiung, Pingtung and Penghu, the major issue was US pork, while in New Taipei City, Taipei and Keelung, people were most dissatisfied with the new freeway toll collection policy, the poll showed.
The poll surveyed 1,073 adults across the nation on Thursday and Friday. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
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