Public confidence in politics plunged below 50 points, a poll released yesterday by the Chinese-language Global Views magazine (遠見) showed, with a majority trusting Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) more than President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) confidence index reached a new high, although it was still below 50 points.
The survey, conducted by the Global Views Survey Research Center, found that on a scale of 0 to 100, the public mood index (TPMI) for this month was 42.5 points, a 1.1 point drop from last month.
The TPMI consists of two indexes: the political confidence index (PCI) and the economic confidence index (ECI). The PCI was 48.4 this month, while the ECI was 36.5.
The figures represented a fall of 2.7 points and an increase of 0.4 points respectively over the previous month.
On the political front, respondents’ confidence in Ma was 46.5 points, a drop of 1.3 points over the previous month.
Ma’s confidence index has been lingering at below 50 since June this year.
“While it is important for both sides to pursue military confidence-building measures, it is more urgent for President Ma to restore public confidence in his administration because it is the foundation of political stability,” center director Lian Tai (戴立安) said.
Wu’s (吳敦義) confidence index, however, was higher than Ma’s at 51.4 points, while that of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) was 42.1 points.
It was the second month in a row that Wu’s trust index was higher than Ma’s.
Tai said it was also the first time the confidence index of the premier was more than 50 points since April 2007.
Tsai received 46.1 points on the confidence index, a 2.6 point increase from last month and a record-high since last November.
The DPP’s confidence index also gained by 4.5 points to 39.3 points, the second-highest since November last year.
Tai attributed the rise in Tsai’s trust index to the decline of the distrust index from pan-green supporters or centrist voters.
A series of convictions of KMT lawmakers on vote-buying charges also made the public switch their trust to the DPP, he said, adding that the waning fallout of the visit of the Dalai Lama also helped boost the DPP’s confidence index.
The index for next month’s political stability suffered a sharp dive from 41 to 48 points.
Tai said it had much to do with the controversies caused by the nomination of local elections in December and convictions of KMT lawmakers on vote-buying charges.
Next month’s index for cross-strait detente also fell by 3.3 points to 61.2, a low point since November last year, when the figure stood at its lowest of 60.9.
Tai said the plunge had a lot to do with the unclear content of the three financial memorandums of understanding and the economic cooperation framework agreement the administration wants to sign with Beijing.
On the economic front, the current economic situation index was 27.4 points, an increase of 0.9 points from last month.
The economic optimism index declined by 0.2 points to 45.6 points.
The figure in January this year was 33.1 points, the lowest since last November.
The poll was conducted between Oct. 14 and Oct. 16 and 1,006 adults across the country were surveyed.
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