Lienchiang County Commissioner Liu Tseng-ying (劉增應) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) enjoys the highest approval rating in a list of the approval ratings of 22 municipalities in a survey conducted by Chinese-language CommonWealth magazine.
Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), an independent, ranked the second-lowest on the list, beating only Chiayi Mayor Twu Shiing-jer (涂醒哲) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), according to the poll, which was released yesterday.
The ranking was created by combining polls of 14,869 residents of the jurisdictions and four “expert groups,” with residents’ responses weighted at 80 percent, the magazine said.
Topping the list are: Liu with 80.11 points; Kinmen County Commissioner Chen Fu-hai (陳福海) of the People First Party with 71.06; Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) of the DPP at 69.66; Tainan Mayor William Lai (賴清德) of the DPP with 69.48; Hualien County Commissioner Fu Kun-chi (傅崑萁), an independent, with 66.96; Yilan County Commissioner Lin Tsung-hsien (林聰賢) of the DPP at 65.66; Pingtung County Commissioner Pan Men-an (潘孟安) of the DPP with 64.7; Taitung County Commissioner Huang Chien-ting (黃健庭) of the KMT at 64.41; Penghu County Commissioner Chen Kuang-fu (陳光復) of the DPP with 63.08; and Hsinchu Mayor Lin Chih-chien (林智堅) of the DPP at 61.73.
The local government heads at the bottom of the ranking are: Twu at 43.6 points; Ko with 49.36; Miaoli County Commissioner Hsu Yao-chang (徐耀昌) of the KMT at 50.59; New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫) of the KMT with 51.49; Taichung Mayor Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) of the DPP at 55.01; Changhua County Commissioner Wei Ming-ku (魏明谷) of the DPP with 55.04; Hsinchu County Commissioner Chiu Ching-chun (邱鏡淳) of the KMT at 56.63; Yunlin County Commissioner Lee Chin-yung (李進勇) of the DPP with 58.86 and Taoyuan Mayor Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) of the DPP with 61.10.
Ko said the plunge in his approval rating was likely caused by an impasse in the Taipei Dome project and his cancelation of Double Ninth Day monetary gifts to older residents from high-income families.
Ko said he would not reinstate the monetary gifts out of concern for his approval rating, adding that, had the NT$700 million (US$22.1 million) in gifts not been cut, the city would need to pay wealthy residents NT$1 billion in 2018 due to an aging population.
Additional reporting by Sean Lin
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