Taoyuan Mayor Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) has edged out Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) to become the most well-liked mayor in the nation’s six special municipalities, while Taichung has again been rated the most livable city, a survey released by Trend Survey and Research Co said yesterday.
It is the third survey conducted by the firm at the behest of the Taiwan Brain Trust to gauge the opinions of residents of the six municipalities on their mayors’ performance, following similar polls conducted in December last year and May.
Although this is only his first term, Cheng, of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), garnered the highest support rating among his constituency at 75.9 percent, the survey showed.
Photo: Li Jung-ping, Taipei Times
He is followed by the DPP’s Chen at 66.2 percent, the DPP’s Taichung Mayor Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) at 56.1 percent, independent Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) at 51 percent, and the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫) at 49.9 percent.
Independent acting Tainan Mayor Li Men-yen (李孟諺) came in last with 25.8 percent, which likely reflects city residents’ unfamiliarity with his policies given that he only stepped in for William Lai (賴清德) in September after Lai was appointed premier, the think tank said.
Compared with the previous survey, Ko’s support rating had the most significant growth of 6.4 percentage points, while Chen’s suffered the steepest decline of 9.2 percentage points, the poll showed.
Chen’s plummeting popularity could be attributed to air pollution issues and the Ministry of National Defense’s scandal-dogged minesweeper project, Trend Survey and Research general manager Wu Shih-chang (吳世昌) said.
Chen’s administration last month became embroiled in the Kaohsiung Marine Bureau’s questionable lease of the city’s Singda Harbor (興達港) to Ching Fu Shipbuilding Co (慶富造船).
The poll found that most respondents, or 23.8 percent, said Taichung was the most hospitable special municipality, despite growing public discontent with pollution caused by the Taichung Power Plant, the nation’s largest coal-fired plant.
Coming in second is Taipei (16.6 percent), followed by New Taipei City (12.6 percent), Kaohsiung (12.3 percent), Tainan (11.8 percent) and Taoyuan (11.6 percent).
The ranking remains mostly the same as the May survey, with only New Taipei City and Kaohsiung switching places.
Cheng’s rising popularity was primarily due to his efforts to create a culturally vibrant city, but most areas of Taoyuan still lack an urban feel, Chung Hua University’s Department of Public Administration associate professor Tseng Chien-yuan (曾建元) said.
However, when asked to choose their favorite public figure from a list of 12, the majority, or 51.7 percent, picked Chen, with Lai and Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) chairman Terry Gou (郭台銘) placing second and third at 48.9 percent and 46.9 percent respectively.
Lin took fourth place, followed by Ko, Chu, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), Cheng and Legislative Speaker Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全).
The bottom three places were occupied by KMT Legislator Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安), KMT Chairman Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) and Li.
Chiang is reportedly the KMT’s preferred candidate for next year’s Taipei mayoral election.
The survey polled 4,841 respondents between Friday last week and Wednesday, with about 800 samples collected from each municipality.
The poll has a margin of error of 1.41 percentage points.
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