President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) trust index fell to a new low in a poll released yesterday, while that of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) reached a record-high this month, a poll by the Chinese-language Global Views magazine found.
The poll, conducted by the Global Views Survey Research Center, put Ma’s confidence index at 41.9 percent on a scale of 0 to 100, down 1.6 percentage points from last month. It was Ma’s lowest score since August last year, when Typhoon Morakot lashed central and southern Taiwan, killing hundreds.
The Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) confidence index, meanwhile, also dropped to a new low of 39.3 percent, down 1.3 percentage points from last month.
By contrast, Premier Wu Den-yih’s (吳敦義) trust index rose 1.7 percentage points to 45.1 percent.
The pollster said this showed that the public has differing levels of confidence in the Presidential Office, Executive Yuan and political parties.
It attributed the phenomenon to public disappointment with Ma and his administration, which it said had disappointed the public, especially in terms of crisis management, explaining its policies, unifying the administration and objectively assessing its performance.
Meanwhile, trust in the DPP increased slightly.
Tsai’s confidence index rose 0.7 percentage points to 52.5 percent, her highest score since the center began conducting the polls in June 2006.
The DPP’s confidence index gained 2.5 percentage points to 43.7 percent — the party’s best performance since June 2006 as well.
The pollster said the results reflected the DPP’s victories in the legislative by-elections earlier this month.
Those victories allowed the party to exceed the threshold of one-quarter of legislative seats.
The survey also said that the “public mood index” this month remained below 50 at 41.4 points, a 0.5 point increase from last month.
The public mood index consists of the political confidence index (PCI) and the economic confidence index (ECI).
The PCI was unchanged from last month at 45.3, while the ECI climbed 1 point to 37.4.
The political optimism index for next month increased 1.2 points to 47, while confidence in political stability over the next month fell from 42.4 points to to 41.5 points.
As the KMT performed worse than expected in last month’s “three-in-one” local elections — and is still smarting from criticism over the government’s response to Typhoon Morakot — the pollster said the four legislative by-elections next month would pose another challenge for the ruling party.
On the economic front, confidence in the current economic situation was 27.9 points, an increase of 1 point from last month.
The economic optimism index advanced 1.2 points to 47 points. Confidence that the economy would improve next month rose 2.7 points to 50.8, while confidence that personal finances would improve during the same period of time fell 0.4 points to 43.1.
The poll was conducted from Jan. 12 to Jan. 14 and 1,014 adults countrywide were surveyed.
Also See: EDITORIAL : Seeking a man of substance
Twenty-four Republican members of the US House of Representatives yesterday introduced a concurrent resolution calling on the US government to abolish the “one China” policy and restore formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Led by US representatives Tom Tiffany and Scott Perry, the resolution calls for not only re-establishing formal relations, but also urges the US Trade Representative to negotiate a free-trade agreement (FTA) with Taiwan and for US officials to advocate for Taiwan’s full membership in the UN and other international organizations. In a news release announcing the resolution, Tiffany, who represents a Wisconsin district, called the “one China” policy “outdated, counterproductive
Actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has “returned home” to Taiwan, and there are no plans to hold a funeral for the TV star who died in Japan from influenza- induced pneumonia, her family said in a statement Wednesday night. The statement was released after local media outlets reported that Barbie Hsu’s ashes were brought back Taiwan on board a private jet, which arrived at Taipei Songshan Airport around 3 p.m. on Wednesday. To the reporters waiting at the airport, the statement issued by the family read “(we) appreciate friends working in the media for waiting in the cold weather.” “She has safely returned home.
ON PAROLE: The 73-year-old suspect has a criminal record of rape committed when he was serving in the military, as well as robbery and theft, police said The Kaohsiung District Court yesterday approved the detention of a 73-year-old man for allegedly murdering three women. The suspect, surnamed Chang (張), was arrested on Wednesday evening in connection with the death of a 71-year-old woman surnamed Chao (趙). The Kaohsiung City Police Department yesterday also unveiled the identities of two other possible victims in the serial killing case, a 75-year-old woman surnamed Huang (黃), the suspect’s sister-in-law, and a 75-year-old woman surnamed Chang (張), who is not related to the suspect. The case came to light when Chao disappeared after taking the suspect back to his residence on Sunday. Police, upon reviewing CCTV
TRUMP ERA: The change has sparked speculation on whether it was related to the new US president’s plan to dismiss more than 1,000 Joe Biden-era appointees The US government has declined to comment on a post that indicated the departure of Laura Rosenberger as chair of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT). Neither the US Department of State nor the AIT has responded to the Central News Agency’s questions on the matter, after Rosenberger was listed as a former chair on the AIT’s official Web site, with her tenure marked as 2023 to this year. US officials have said previously that they usually do not comment on personnel changes within the government. Rosenberger was appointed head of the AIT in 2023, during the administration of former US president Joe