The Executive Yuan yesterday denied a media report saying that the government is to spend nearly NT$45 million (US$1.41 million) on publicity campaigns to salvage President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) flagging approval ratings.
According to a report in the Chinese-language Next Magazine, the Cabinet last month alone put out eight tenders worth NT$44.73 million to poll public perceptions of the government’s policies.
The amount spent, NT$46.14 million, is equivalent to the annual budget for campaigns of former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration, according to the report.
Between May and October, Tsai’s administration offered only seven tenders on public opinion analysis services, with a small budget of NT$2.97 million, the report said.
That the Cabinet invested such a large amount last month indicates the expenditure was aimed at stemming Tsai’s and the Cabinet’s plummeting approval ratings, the report said.
A poll released on Monday last week by the Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation showed Tsai’s approval rating dropping to 41.4 percent, which was lower than her disapproval rating for the first time in the foundation’s polls.
The eight tender offers include a NT$14 million offer by the Bureau of Foreign Trade, a NT$9.7 million offer by the Water Resources Agency and a NT$9.5 million offer by the Bureau of Energy, in addition to five other tender offers with smaller amounts by the Health Promotion Administration, the Soil and Water Conservation Bureau, the Executive Yuan and the Hakka Affairs Council, according to data disclosed on the Executive Yuan’s procurement Web site.
Executive Yuan spokesman Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇) dismissed the report, saying the calls for tenders were not for a monthly budget, but were intended for the agency’s annual budget for next year.
Hsu told a news conference that the tenders sought to acquire analyses of public opinion rather than boost publicity to affect polls.
“How could the Executive Yuan use the tender offers to be awarded next year to improve approval ratings last month?” Hsu asked.
The Executive Yuan has outsourced public opinion analyses to private companies since 2002 to survey public sentiment on a 24-hour basis, and the scope of tender offers has been expanded since the advent of the Internet, he said.
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