Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) enjoys the highest popularity among the nation’s top 12 political leaders, followed by Tainan Mayor William Lai (賴清德), according to an opinion poll released on Sunday.
In the survey conducted by Taiwan Indicators Survey Research (TISR), Chen took the top spot as in last year’s poll by scoring a rating of 76.5 percent, while Lai came in second with 67.9 percent.
Coming in third was president-elect Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) with 64.8 percent, followed by outgoing Premier Simon Chang (張善政) with 56.6 percent and Taichung Mayor Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) with 48.3 percent.
Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) received 47.7 percent, with Legislative Speaker Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) garnering 46.9 percent and premier-designate Lin Chuan (林全) receiving 45.2 percent.
Those who received lower scores were New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫) with 43.1 percent, Taoyuan Mayor Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) with 40.5 percent, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) with 40.4 percent and President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) with 32.3 percent.
TISR conducted a similar survey last year in which Chen also topped the list, while Lai placed third, Tsai took sixth and Lin was seventh.
The survey was conducted among Taiwanese aged 20 and above on Tuesday and Wednesday last week using computer-assisted telephone interviews and random-digit-dialing systems. A total of 1,010 valid surveys were collected. It had a margin of error of 3 percentage points.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to