Three-quarters of respondents in a poll plan to cast ballots in the four referendums on Dec. 18, the New Power Party (NPP) said yesterday.
The referendums ask questions related to banning imports of pork containing traces of the leanness-enhancing additive ractopamine, relocating a natural gas terminal project to protect algal reefs off Taoyuan’s Guanyin District (觀音), activating the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s Gongliao District (貢寮) and holding referendums alongside nationwide elections.
The NPP poll results showed that turnout for the referendums would be high, with 59.7 percent of respondents saying that they would “certainly” vote and 16.1 percent saying “possibly.”
Photo: Wang Shu-hsiu, Taipei Times
Asked whether they support restarting construction at the mothballed nuclear power plant, 51.8 percent said “no” and 37.7 percent said “yes,” the poll showed.
Nearly 60 percent expressed a lack of confidence about nuclear power security in Taiwan, NPP Chairwoman Chen Jiau-hua (陳椒華) said.
Regarding the proposal to link referendum voting with elections, 44.8 percent agreed, while 42.9 percent disagreed, the poll found.
Photo: Hung Mei-hsiu, Taipei Times
On the referendum seeking to relocate the nation’s third liquefied natural gas terminal project from off Taoyuan’s Datan coast to protect algal reef ecosystems in the intertidal zone, 39.5 percent agreed and 37 percent disagreed, the poll found.
For the referendum to reinstate a ban on imported pork products containing ractopamine residue, 51.9 percent agreed and 38.9 percent disagreed, it showed.
Of the four referendums, the NPP has said that it is only opposed to the power plant question, while it urges people to vote “yes” on the other three items.
The poll also surveyed the performances of President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌).
Tsai garnered 57.1 percent support and 33.7 percent disapproval, while Su had 50.9 percent support and 39.4 percent disapproval, it showed.
Their support rates are almost the same as in October, the poll found.
The NPP commissioned Taiwan Indicators Survey Research Co to carry out the survey by telephone from Nov. 22 to Sunday last week.
It garnered 1,068 valid samples and has a margin of error of 3 percentage points.
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