President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) satisfaction and approval ratings have rallied to more than 50 percent following last week’s earthquake in Hualien, the results of a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) opinion poll released yesterday showed.
Tsai’s approval rating reached 50.6 percent, while those not supporting her was down to 41.1 percent, the poll found.
Her satisfaction rating rose to 50.4 percent, with a 42.9 percent disapproval rating, it showed.
A total of 76.5 percent of respondents said the government’s emergency response following the earthquake was satisfactory, while 12.5 percent were unsatisfied.
The poll’s results conformed with a rise in public unity following the earthquake, DPP spokeswoman Kolas Yotaka said.
The survey showed almost no difference between the president’s satisfaction rating and approval rating, a unique phenomenon compared with other surveys’ results, as polls in past months invariably showed that the president’s approval rating was higher than her satisfaction ratings by a large margin, she said.
Less than 8.3 percent of respondents declined to express an opinion about the president, suggesting a high level of public engagement in public affairs, which was rarely observed in past opinion polls, Kolas said.
Tsai’s approval rating has remained at more than 50 percent over the past few months in DPP surveys, but her satisfaction rating has stayed at less than 40 percent for months and once dipped to less than 30 percent in polls conducted by think tanks affiliated with the DPP.
The earthquake galvanized the public to help disaster victims, and the government’s swift response won bipartisan approval, including an 85.9 percent satisfaction rating among pan-green respondents, 71.7 percent satisfaction among pan-blue respondents and 73.8 percent approval among politically neutral respondents, Kolas said.
Kaohsiung and Pingtung County registered the highest approval rating of government disaster relief efforts with 84.1 percent, followed by the 80.6 percent of Keelung and Hualien, Taitung and Yilan counties, as well as Penghu.
Respondents aged 20 to 29 were most satisfied with the government’s action, with an 86.2 percent approval rating, which was likely due to their frequent exposure to the Internet and social media, Kolas said.
They were followed by people older than 70, with a 78.8 percent approval rating, and people aged between 30 and 39 at 76.6 percent.
The DPP poll, conducted on Monday and Tuesday, collected 811 valid samples and has a confidence level of 95 percent, with a margin of error of 3.4 percentage points.
FAST TRACK? Chinese spouses must renounce their Chinese citizenship and pledge allegiance to Taiwan to gain citizenship, some demonstrators said Opponents and supporters of a bill that would allow Chinese spouses to obtain Taiwanese citizenship in four years instead of six staged protests near the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday morning. Those who oppose the bill proposed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) demanded that Chinese spouses be granted citizenship only after renouncing their Chinese citizenship, passing a citizenship test and pledging allegiance to Taiwan. The demonstrators, who were protesting at a side entrance to the Legislative Yuan on Jinan Road, were mostly members of the Taiwan Association of University Professors and other organizations advocating Taiwanese independence. Supporters of the bill, led
SILENT MAJORITY: Only 1 percent of Chinese rejected all options but war to annex Taiwan, while one-third viewed war as unacceptable, a university study showed Many Chinese are more concerned with developments inside their country than with seeking unification with Taiwan, al-Jazeera reported on Friday. Although China claims Taiwan as its own territory and has vowed to annex it, by force if necessary, 23-year-old Chinese Shao Hongtian was quoted by al-Jazeera as saying that “hostilities are not the way to bring China and Taiwan together.” “I want unification to happen peacefully,” Shao said. Al-Jazeera said it changed Shao’s name to respect his wish for anonymity. If peaceful unification is not possible, Shao said he would prefer “things to remain as they are,” adding that many of his friends feel
Taiwan has “absolute air superiority” over China in its own airspace, Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) told a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee on Monday, amid concern over whether Taipei could defend itself against a military incursion by Beijing. Po made the remarks in response to a question from Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) on whether Taiwan would have partial or complete air superiority if Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) warplanes were to enter Taiwan’s airspace. Po, a retired pilot, said that the Taiwanese military has “absolute air superiority” over PLA
A shipment of basil pesto imported by Costco Wholesale Taiwan from the US in the middle of last month was intercepted at the border after testing positive for excessive pesticide residue, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. Samples taken from a shipment of the Kirkland Signature brand of basil pesto imported by Costco contained 0.1 milligrams per kilogram of ethylene oxide, exceeding the non-detectable limit. Ethylene oxide is a carcinogenic substance that can be used as a pesticide. The 674kg shipment of basil pesto would either be destroyed or returned to its country of origin, as is the procedure for all