Forty-five percent of Taiwanese oppose President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) doubling as Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairperson, a survey released yesterday by the Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation showed.
Tsai was re-elected as president on Jan. 11 with a record 8.17 million votes, or 57.13 percent of the total, the foundation said at a news conference.
According to the DPP charter, a member who has been elected president can also serve as party chair. If the president does not want to be chair, an election would be held to choose one.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
Asked whether Tsai should double as party chairperson, 8.7 percent of respondents “agreed wholeheartedly” and 22.3 percent were in favor, while 26.1 percent would question such a move and 18.9 percent disagreed outright. Six percent said they did not know.
The results showed that 31 percent were in favor of Tsai doubling as chairperson, while 45 percent were opposed.
The “honeymoon” period for Tsai’s second term has already begun, foundation president Michael You (游盈隆) said, adding that Tsai becoming DPP chairperson could signal the end of that, along with a decline in her popularity.
According to the survey, 56.7 percent of respondents approved of the way that Tsai handles national affairs, while 27 percent disapproved.
It showed that 56.2 percent were satisfied with Premier Su Tseng-chang’s (蘇貞昌) performance, while 29.6 percent were dissatisfied.
The survey found that 61.7 percent of respondents were unable to name any of the 13 ministers, while 38.2 percent being able to name only one.
Of the ministers who were named, Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) was No. 1, with 29.7 percent naming him, with Minister of the Interior Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇) second at 13.6 percent.
Ting Ting-yu (丁庭宇), an academic who attended the news conference, said that the lack of memorable Cabinet members and distinctive official capacities should be a warning sign for the Cabinet.
The survey found that 72.4 percent do not expect Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), who was the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential candidate, to make another presidential bid in 2024.
Six point two percent said they highly expect Han to run for president in 2024, 8.9 percent said they could see Han running in 2024, 25.1 percent said they have low expectations, 47.3 percent said they would not like to see Han run, and 12.7 percent declined to answer or said they had no opinion, the survey showed.
A cross-analysis of the survey showed that 35 percent of KMT supporters would support a second presidential attempt by Han, while 87 percent of DPP supporters would not support a Han ticket.
The survey also showed that 77 percent of Kaohsiung residents would not support a second presidential bid by the mayor, while 11 percent said they would.
You said that Han’s victory in the Kaohsiung mayoral election had induced a “catfish effect” that benefited Tsai, leading her to victory this year.
The poll, which the foundation commissioned Focus Survey Research to conduct, interviewed people aged 20 or above on Tuesday and Wednesday last week.
It collected 1,078 valid samples, with a margin of error of 2.98 percentage points.
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