President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) approval rate slipped from 38.5 percent in March to 24.7 percent this month, and at least 61 percent of respondents in a survey said he should focus on his work as president and not double as chairman of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), according to a Taiwan Thinktank poll released yesterday.
Only 19.4 percent of respondents said Ma should continue serving as party chairman, it said.
The survey showed that if Ma were to step down as KMT chairman, 37.7 percent of respondents would support Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) taking over the position, while 21.7 percent favored New Taipei City (新北市) Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫), 12.5 percent were for Greater Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強) and 8.7 percent picked vice president-elect Wu Den-yih (吳敦義).
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
Ma should carefully consider the option of stepping down as party chairperson and focus on running the country, former Mainland Affairs Council chairman and representative to the US Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said.
Ma’s deteriorating image and administration have only added to the suffering of the people and the nation, he said.
Wang has a better emotional quotient than Ma, who only uses his “own people” and then refuses to take responsibility, Wu said, adding that the president should reflect on his actions and style of conducting business.
The Taiwan Thinktank survey also conducted its first-ever poll on the president’s leadership abilities, with Ma receiving an overall score of 41.7 points. On a scale of 0 to 10, Ma’s highest score was for rectitude, garnering 5.84 points.
He scored below 5 in all other categories.
Ma scored 4.98 on honesty, 3.5 on popularity, 4.23 on capability, 4.13 on use of personnel, 3.63 on the economy, 3.53 on overall policies, 3.91 on reform and 3.66 on power of persuasion, the survey showed.
Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明), convener of Taiwan Thinktanks’ survey division, said the president’s lowest score was on popular support, which he said showed that people felt that Ma did not understand what the public needs.
Ma’s rating on overall policies also showed that his policies were not attuned to public demands, Hsu said.
The low score on the economy is the “soft underbelly” of the Ma administration, he added.
The survey also showed that among the nation’s three directly elected presidents, Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) was held in the highest regard by the general public in terms of promoting economic development, democratic reforms and Taiwan’s international profile.
A total of 50.8 percent of respondents regarded Lee as contributing the most to Taiwan’s economic development, while 22.1 percent thought Ma did the most and 9.1 percent picked former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).
On contribution to democratic reforms, Chen received a low score after being imprisoned on corruption charges, but Ma had roughly the same score as Chen, which Hsu said meant Ma should reflect on his actions.
Wu, who served under the Chen administration, said Chen had made great contributions to democratic reforms and promoting international recognition of Taiwan, but most pan-green supporters probably chose Lee, resulting in Chen’s low rating in the survey.
Future surveys could compare presidents one on one over certain issues and give a general analysis so that such a survey would yield more precise results, he said.
Translated by Jake Chung, Staff writer
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RSS