Both President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) and the Cabinet’s approval ratings have declined because of growing resentment over the government’s handling of recent incidents, from the Dapu farmland controversy to the Central Taiwan Science Park, a new survey shows.
The survey was conducted by Global Views magazine’s Survey Research Center on Monday and Tuesday and polled respondents’ approval of, and confidence in, government performance.
Confidence in Ma was at 41.9 percent, a decline of 2.9 percent from last month. Ma’s approval rating also fell 1.3 percent to 31 percent, while his disapproval rating rose from 56.2 percent last month to 57 percent, the survey showed.
Premier Wu Den-yih’s (吳敦義) approval rating sank 8 percent to 34.6 percent, which was the lowest since he polled 34.4 percent when taking office last year.
The survey also showed a low approval rating for Cabinet officials in general, with only 26.5 percent of respondents saying they were satisfied with the Cabinet’s performance.
The poll surveyed 1,018 Taiwanese, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.
Director of the center Tai Li-an (戴立安) attributed the low approval rating and confidence index on Ma, Wu and the Cabinet to the government’s poor crisis-solving abilities in the wake of several incidents.
The administration has been stumbling to address the public outcry over the Miaoli County Government’s expropriation of a total of 28 hectares of farmland in Jhunan’s Dapu Borough (大埔). Its handling of the issue came under fire even after Wu traveled to the borough and offered deals to the area’s farmers.
Public frustrations over the government’s handling of pollution from a petrochemical complex owned by the Formosa Plastics Group in Yunlin County’s Mailiao Township (麥寮) and the expansion of the Central Taiwan Science Park’s Houli (后里) site were also reflected in the survey, he said.
He added that following the signing of the cross-strait Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA), the Ma administration has failed to present other solid policies or issues that attract public support. The government’s attempt to boost support by promoting the ECFA may not be effective because the economic pact has not taken effect yet, Tai said.
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