Among eight Asia-Pacific countries and regions, only Taiwan prefers US President Donald Trump over his challenger, former US vice president Joe Biden, in the upcoming US presidential election, a survey released on Thursday showed.
According to the poll published by UK-based market research firm YouGov, 42 percent of Taiwanese favor Trump in the Nov. 3 election, while 30 percent back Biden and 28 percent have no opinion.
In contrast, respondents in Malaysia favor Biden over Trump 62 percent to 9 percent, and in Singapore by 66 percent to 12 percent, the survey showed.
Biden also led Trump in Australia (60 percent to 21 percent), Indonesia (63 percent to 12 percent), the Philippines (47 percent to 24 percent) and Thailand (59 percent to 14 percent), the poll showed.
Apart from Taiwan, the highest level of support for Trump was in Hong Kong with 36 percent, but even there, 42 percent of the respondents said they favored Biden of the Democratic Party, the survey showed.
On the question of who respondents thought was most likely to win the presidential election, 37 percent of the respondents in Hong Kong said Trump, whereas 25 percent picked Biden.
In Taiwan, 45 percent of respondents said they see Trump as the winner, and 29 percent think Biden would defeat him, the poll showed.
In the other six countries, the majority of respondents said they think Biden would win.
About 42 percent of respondents in Taiwan said they favored Trump because they think that US relations with Taiwan and the rest of the region would advance under his administration, and 41 percent said the US economy would improve with him.
However, 26 percent said that Biden would do a better job combating climate change and tackling the COVID-19 pandemic, while 28 percent said he would be better at promoting peace in the world, the poll showed.
The YouGov survey was conducted from Sept. 24 to Oct. 5 with sample groups of 1,003 to 2,092 in each of the eight regions.
Alain Robert, known as the "French Spider-Man," praised Alex Honnold as exceptionally well-prepared after the US climber completed a free solo ascent of Taipei 101 yesterday. Robert said Honnold's ascent of the 508m-tall skyscraper in just more than one-and-a-half hours without using safety ropes or equipment was a remarkable achievement. "This is my life," he said in an interview conducted in French, adding that he liked the feeling of being "on the edge of danger." The 63-year-old Frenchman climbed Taipei 101 using ropes in December 2004, taking about four hours to reach the top. On a one-to-10 scale of difficulty, Robert said Taipei 101
Nipah virus infection is to be officially listed as a category 5 notifiable infectious disease in Taiwan in March, while clinical treatment guidelines are being formulated, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. With Nipah infections being reported in other countries and considering its relatively high fatality rate, the centers on Jan. 16 announced that it would be listed as a notifiable infectious disease to bolster the nation’s systematic early warning system and increase public awareness, the CDC said. Bangladesh reported four fatal cases last year in separate districts, with three linked to raw date palm sap consumption, CDC Epidemic Intelligence
Two Taiwanese prosecutors were questioned by Chinese security personnel at their hotel during a trip to China’s Henan Province this month, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. The officers had personal information on the prosecutors, including “when they were assigned to their posts, their work locations and job titles,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said. On top of asking about their agencies and positions, the officers also questioned the prosecutors about the Cross-Strait Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance Agreement, a pact that serves as the framework for Taiwan-China cooperation on combating crime and providing judicial assistance, Liang
US climber Alex Honnold left Taiwan this morning a day after completing a free-solo ascent of Taipei 101, a feat that drew cheers from onlookers and gained widespread international attention. Honnold yesterday scaled the 101-story skyscraper without a rope or safety harness. The climb — the highest urban free-solo ascent ever attempted — took just more than 90 minutes and was streamed live on Netflix. It was covered by major international news outlets including CNN, the New York Times, the Guardian and the Wall Street Journal. As Honnold prepared to leave Taiwan today, he attracted a crowd when he and his wife, Sanni,