The second round of the recall movement has seen a major drop in support, with nearly 30 percent more respondents expressing opposition than support in a poll released today by the Taiwan Public Opinion Foundation.
On Aug. 23, seven additional recall proposals targeting Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers are set to take place, following last month’s first round that saw none of the 24 recall motions pass.
This decrease in support marks a dramatic shift in political sentiment, foundation chairman Michael You (游盈隆) said.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
Asked whether they supported the recall targeting KMT lawmakers, 16.9 percent of respondents expressed “strong support,” 14.8 percent expressed “some support,” 24 percent expressed “some opposition” and 37.4 percent expressed “strong opposition.”
Another 5.4 percent expressed no opinion, and 1.5 percent said they did not know or refused to answer.
Nationwide, 32 percent of respondents expressed any amount of support, while 61 percent expressed opposition — a 29.7 percent difference.
Looking at the seven areas set to hold a recall this month — Taichung, New Taipei City, Nantou City and Hsinchu County — only 16.7 percent expressed strong support, 11.7 some support, 27.8 percent some opposition and 38.2 percent strong opposition.
About 4.3 percent expressed no opinion and 1.3 percent did not know or answer.
In those areas, overall support was at 28 percent compared with 66 percent for the opposition, a gap of 37.6 percent and even greater than the difference for nationwide respondents.
Compared with the foundation’s poll last month, nationwide support has dropped by 10 percentage points, while opposition has increased by 13.4 percentage points, widening the gap between the two positions to more than five times its size last month.
If each percentage point represents about 195,000 people, that would be a nearly 2 million-person decrease in support for the recalls and a 2.6 million increase in opposition.
These results reflect mainstream public attitudes about the recall’s failure, You said.
Over time, it is likely that support would continue to decrease while opposition increases, he added.
The survey was conducted between Monday and Wednesday last week, with the 1,079 respondents weighted to reflect region, age, gender and education level distribution according to the latest statistics from the Ministry of the Interior.
The manufacture of the remaining 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks Taiwan purchased from the US has recently been completed, and they are expected to be delivered within the next one to two months, a source said yesterday. The Ministry of National Defense is arranging cargo ships to transport the tanks to Taiwan as soon as possible, said the source, who is familiar with the matter. The estimated arrival time ranges from late this month to early next month, the source said. The 28 Abrams tanks make up the third and final batch of a total of 108 tanks, valued at about NT$40.5 billion
A group from the Taiwanese Designers in Australia association yesterday represented Taiwan at the Midsumma Pride March in Melbourne. The march, held in the St. Kilda suburb, is the city’s largest LGBTQIA+ parade and the flagship event of the annual Midsumma Festival. It attracted more than 45,000 spectators who supported the 400 groups and 10,000 marchers that participated this year, the association said. Taiwanese Designers said they organized a team to march for Taiwan this year, joining politicians, government agencies, professionals and community organizations in showing support for LGBTQIA+ people and diverse communities. As the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex
MOTIVES QUESTIONED The PLA considers Xi’s policies toward Taiwan to be driven by personal considerations rather than military assessment, the Epoch Times reports Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) latest purge of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) leadership might have been prompted by the military’s opposition to plans of invading Taiwan, the Epoch Times said. The Chinese military opposes waging war against Taiwan by a large consensus, putting it at odds with Xi’s vision, the Falun Gong-affiliated daily said in a report on Thursday, citing anonymous sources with insight into the PLA’s inner workings. The opposition is not the opinion of a few generals, but a widely shared view among the PLA cadre, the Epoch Times cited them as saying. “Chinese forces know full well that
Travel agencies in Taiwan are working to secure alternative flights for travelers bound for New Zealand for the Lunar New Year holiday, as Air New Zealand workers are set to strike next week. The airline said that it has confirmed that the planned industrial action by its international wide-body cabin crew would go ahead on Thursday and Friday next week. While the Auckland-based carrier pledged to take reasonable measures to mitigate the impact of the workers’ strike, an Air New Zealand flight arriving at Taipei from Auckland on Thursday and another flight departing from Taipei for Auckland on Saturday would have to
RSS