Most of the public have a favorable view of President William Lai (賴清德), with satisfaction rates particularly high for his handling of national defense, safeguarding of Taiwan’s sovereignty, and dealing with foreign affairs, including his China policies, a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) poll showed yesterday ahead of the one-year anniversary of his inauguration.
Lai’s approval rating was 57.3 percent, up from 46.7 percent last month, despite global economic turmoil over US tariff policies, with the approval ratings for all of his major policies garnering more than 50 percent, DPP spokeswoman Han Ying (韓瑩) said.
His disapproval rating was 40.2 percent, Han said, citing data from the poll.
Photo: CNA
Lai’s administration has led Taiwan forward over the past year, despite ever-changing global issues, Chinese intimidation and opposition parties holding a majority in the legislature, Han added.
Lai received particularly high ratings for his policies to bolster national defense, with 64.5 percent approving against 31.1 percent disapproving; 63.9 percent approval for safeguarding Taiwan’s sovereignty versus 32.6 percent disapproving; and 58.4 percent approving of the establishment of the Whole-of-Society Defense Resilience Committee and 31.3 percent disapproving, she said.
Endorsement of Lai’s policies was especially high among young people, with 74.4 percent and 73.9 percent of the 20-to-29 age group backing the national defense and civilian defense committee policies respectively, Han said.
His approval was 60.6 percent for foreign affairs initiatives, while 34.2 percent disapproved.
On cross-strait policies, his approval rating was 56.3 percent versus 37.7 percent disapproving, she said.
Female respondents on average backed Lai’s policies by 5 to 10 percentage points more than their male counterparts for his policies on national defense, sovereignty, foreign affairs and cross-strait dealings, she said.
The survey was conducted on Monday and Tuesday, garnering 1,055 valid responses from people aged 20 or older nationwide.
Interviews were conducted via landline or mobile phone. The poll had a 3 percent margin of error and a confidence level of 95 percent.
Separately, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) told a news conference in Taipei that a rally would be held on Monday to urge Lai to step down.
A motorcade destined for DPP headquarters would depart from KMT headquarters in the afternoon, it said, calling on drivers joining the rally to honk twice at 5:20pm to express their anger toward the Lai government.
KMT Secretary-General Justin Huang (黃健庭) said the past year has been the darkest time in Taiwan’s history and the nation’s democracy has been severely compromised.
The Lai government has focused on power struggles, ignoring the economy and people’s livelihoods, while creating social confrontations by abusing the judiciary and promoting a mass recall campaign, Huang said.
The government “knelt down” before any negotiations began when the US announced its tariffs, allowing US President Donald Trump to take as much as he liked, he said.
“You can never wake someone who is pretending to be asleep,” KMT spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu said, explaining the decision to call for people to sound their horns in protest.
Additional reporting by Shih Hsiao-kuang
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