The approval rating of President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration remains high, despite the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) campaign against the lifting of a ban on US pork imports, a My-Formosa.com poll showed on Tuesday.
My-Formosa.com is a pan-green-leaning media company unaffiliated with the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
The approval rate of the Tsai administration was 59.8 last month, 2 percentage points higher than in January, the poll showed.
Tsai’s approval rate was 59.2 percent, down 0.4 percentage points, and the rate of Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) was 54.2 percent, up 2.2 percentage points, it showed.
Su’s rate has recovered from a slump in January, My-Formosa.com president Wu Tsu-chia (吳子嘉) said.
The high level of confidence in Tsai and Su suggests that the KMT failed to leverage the controversy over the lifting of restrictions on imports from the US of pork products containing ractopamine residue and beef from cattle 30 months or older, Wu said.
Sixty-seven percent approved of the government’s COVID-19 response and its plans to provide vaccinations, while 26.4 percent disapproved, the poll showed.
If COVID-19 vaccines become available next week, 33.3 percent were willing to receive the jab, while 59.4 percent were unwilling, it showed.
Asked about who they would support in the 2024 presidential election, 21.1 percent said that they would support Vice President William Lai (賴清德) of the DPP and 19.1 percent said they would support New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) of the KMT, the poll showed.
DPP Taoyuan Mayor Cheng Wen-tsang (鄭文燦) would be supported by 10.1 percent of respondents, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) of the Taiwan People’s Party would be supported by 9.8 percent, and former New Taipei City mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫) of the KMT would be supported by 8.7 percent, it showed.
Broadcasting Corp of China chairman Jaw Shaw-kong (趙少康), who last month rejoined the KMT and said he wants to run in the 2024 presidential election, would be supported by 6.1 percent of respondents, the lowest among those named in the poll, it showed.
Among potential presidential candidates, Hou received the highest public-trust rating with 82 percent, followed by Cheng (64.5 percent), Lai (64.1 percent) and Chu (53.2 percent), the poll showed.
Forty-six percent of respondents said that they would distrust Ko, more than the 45.1 percent who said they would trust him, it showed.
Jaw ranked last, with 27.1 percent saying that they would trust him and 56 percent saying they would distrust him, it showed.
Designed by veteran pollster Tai Li-an (戴立安), the survey was conducted on Feb. 24 and 25, and included interviews with 1,074 people.
It has a 95 percent confidence level and a margin of error of 3 percentage points.
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
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,
Taiwanese and US defense groups are collaborating to introduce deployable, semi-autonomous manufacturing systems for drones and components in a boost to the nation’s supply chain resilience. Taiwan’s G-Tech Optroelectronics Corp subsidiary GTOC and the US’ Aerkomm Inc on Friday announced an agreement with fellow US-based Firestorm Lab to adopt the latter’s xCell, a technology featuring 3D printers fitted in 6.1m container units. The systems enable aerial platforms and parts to be produced in high volumes from dispersed nodes capable of rapid redeployment, to minimize the risk of enemy strikes and to meet field requirements, they said. Firestorm chief technology officer Ian Muceus said
RSS