Vice President William Lai (賴清德) remained in the lead in support rate among presidential candidates, while former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) had overtaken New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) to claim second, a Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation poll showed yesterday.
It showed that 36.5 percent of respondents supported Lai, the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) presidential candidate, 29.1 percent supported Ko of the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) and 20.4 percent supported Hou, the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) candidate.
Ko was most favored among respondents aged 20 to 34, while Lai and Ko had similar favorability in the 35 to 44 and 45 to 54 age groups, the poll showed.
Photo: Taipei Times file
However, Lai led among those aged 55 or above, it showed.
Among DPP supporters, 84 percent supported Lai, 3.3 percent backed Hou and 8.1 percent supported Ko, it showed.
Among KMT supporters, it was 65 percent for Hou, 20 percent for Ko and 8.5 percent backing Lai, while 77 percent of respondents who affiliated with the TPP backed Ko, 11 percent supported Hou and 6.8 percent backed Lai.
Foundation chairman Michael You (游盈隆) said that support for Lai increased 0.7 percentage points from its poll released last month, while Ko gained 4 percentage points and Hou fell 7.2 percentage points.
Hou last month led Ko by 2.5 percentage points, but the TPP chairman led Hou by 8.7 percentage points this month, You said.
The poll was conducted on Monday and Tuesday last week via landline calls targeting adults aged 20 or older.
It garnered 1,080 valid responses and had a margin of error of 2.98 percentage points.
TRAFFIC SAFETY RULES: A positive result in a drug test would result in a two-year license suspension for the driver and vehicle, and a fine of up to NT$180,000 The Ministry of Transportation and Communications is to authorize police to conduct roadside saliva tests by the end of the year to deter people from driving while under the influence of narcotics, it said yesterday. The ministry last month unveiled a draft of amended regulations governing traffic safety rules and penalties, which included provisions empowering police to conduct mandatory saliva tests on drivers. While currently rules authorize police to use oral fluid testing kits for signs of drug use, they do not establish penalties for noncompliance or operating procedures for officers to follow, the ministry said. The proposed changes to the regulations require
The Executive Yuan yesterday announced that registration for a one-time universal NT$10,000 cash handout to help people in Taiwan survive US tariffs and inflation would start on Nov. 5, with payouts available as early as Nov. 12. Who is eligible for the handout? Registered Taiwanese nationals are eligible, including those born in Taiwan before April 30 next year with a birth certificate. Non-registered nationals with residence permits, foreign permanent residents and foreign spouses of Taiwanese citizens with residence permits also qualify for the handouts. For people who meet the eligibility requirements, but passed away between yesterday and April 30 next year, surviving family members
China Airlines Ltd (CAL) yesterday morning joined SkyTeam’s Aviation Challenge for the fourth time, operating a demonstration flight for “net zero carbon emissions” from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport to Bangkok. The flight used sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) at a ratio of up to 40 percent, the highest proportion CAL has achieved to date, the nation’s largest carrier said. Since April, SAF has become available to Taiwanese international carriers at Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport), Kaohsiung International Airport and Taoyuan airport. In previous challenges, CAL operated “net zero carbon emission flights” to Singapore and Japan. At a ceremony at Taoyuan airport, China Airlines chief sustainability
‘ONE CHINA’: A statement that Berlin decides its own China policy did not seem to sit well with Beijing, which offered only one meeting with the German official German Minister for Foreign Affairs Johann Wadephul’s trip to China has been canceled, a spokesperson for his ministry said yesterday, amid rising tensions between the two nations, including over Taiwan. Wadephul had planned to address Chinese curbs on rare earths during his visit, but his comments about Berlin deciding on the “design” of its “one China” policy ahead of the trip appear to have rankled China. Asked about Wadephul’s comments, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Guo Jiakun (郭嘉昆) said the “one China principle” has “no room for any self-definition.” In the interview published on Thursday, Wadephul said he would urge China to