President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) public approval rating has dropped to a 21-month low following power outages and an increase in locally transmitted COVID-19 infections, a survey showed yesterday.
The Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation commissioned Focus Survey Research to conduct the survey, which was done by telephone from Monday to Thursday last week.
Tsai’s approval rating dropped to 45.7 percent, the lowest it has been in 21 months, foundation chairman Michael You (游盈隆) said.
Photo: CNA
Premier Su Tseng-chang’s (蘇貞昌) approval rating dropped by 9.5 percent from a survey conducted last month, You said.
“After so many months of favorable governance, the Tsai administration’s ability to run the country is being put to the test,” he said.
The survey asked respondents whether they approved of Tsai’s policies and handling of major issues, to which 8.5 percent said they strongly approved, 37.2 percent approved, 24.9 percent said they did not really approve and 16.4 percent did not approve at all, while 13.1 percent refrained from answering.
The results showed an 8.7 percent decrease in Tsai’s approval rating from a similar poll last month and an 11.4 percent increase in those expressing disapproval of her performance, You said, adding that such a large change in such a short time was rare.
Power outages on May 13 and Monday last week, an increase in local COVID-19 infections and allegations of gang affiliations brought against Democratic Progressive Party members were likely the cause of the approval-rating change, he said, adding that improvements in Taiwan-US relations were insufficient to offset the negative factors.
The survey also asked respondents how satisfied they were with Su’s performance, to which 7.7 percent said they were very satisfied, 37.2 percent were satisfied, 24.7 percent were not really satisfied and 19.9 percent were not satisfied at all, while 10.5 refrained from answering.
“This shows an almost even divide between those satisfied with Su and those not satisfied,” You said. “It’s a complete lack of consensus — and a first for a premier’s approval rating.”
The results showed that 11.5 percent more people expressed disapproval of the premier compared with last month, he said.
The poll collected 1,082 valid samples and has a margin of error of 2.98 percentage points.
TIMING: 'The CHIPS Act funding is crucial for us. In other words, if the act’s passage is delayed for too long, we will certainly need to adjust,’ chairwoman Doris Hsu said GlobalWafers Co (環球晶圓) plans to start construction on a US$5 billion wafer fabrication facility in Texas in November, after passage of the US$52 billion Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors (CHIPS) for America Act. The fab would be the largest of its kind in the US and one of the largest in the world, with a monthly capacity of 1.2 million wafers, GlobalWafers said, adding that the investment would be the first new fab in the US in more than 20 years and critical to closing a semiconductor supply chain gap. The world’s No. 3 silicon wafer supplier said the project, which
Samsung Electronics Co yesterday commenced mass production of 3-nanometer chips that are more powerful and efficient than predecessors, beating rival Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to a key milestone in the race to build the most advanced chips in the world. South Korea’s largest company said in a statement that it was beginning with 3-nanometer semiconductors for high-performance and specialized low-power computing applications before expanding to mobile processors. By applying so-called Gate-All-Around transistor architecture, Samsung’s 3-nanometer products reduce power consumption by up to 45 percent and improve performance by 23 percent compared with 5-nanometer chips, it said. Samsung’s push to be first
Three to four tropical storms or typhoons are expected to hit Taiwan this year due to a weak La Nina effect in the northwest Pacific Ocean, the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) said yesterday, as typhoon season begins next month. Taiwan’s typhoon season generally lasts from July to September, with most typhoons occurring in August. Weather Forecast Center Director Lu Kuo-chen (呂國臣) told a news conference that a weakening La Nina is expected to have less of an effect on Taiwan. “The climate simulation we conducted, and those conducted by other meteorological agencies around the world, showed that the number of typhoons that
HYBRID THREAT: Lauding the alliance’s global vision in facing up to China’s challenges, MOFA said that Taiwan would continue to bolster cooperation with democratic allies NATO has for the first time singled out China as one of its strategic priorities for the next decade, warning about its growing military ambitions, confrontational rhetoric toward Taiwan and other neighbors, and increasingly close ties to Russia. In Taipei, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday said it appreciates the alliance’s global vision in facing up squarely to the systemic challenges posed by China. While Russia’s war against Ukraine has dominated discussions at the NATO summit in Madrid, China on Wednesday earned a place among the Western alliance’s most worrying security concerns. “China is substantially building up its military forces, including nuclear
RSS