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.
Eight Chinese naval vessels and 24 military aircraft were detected crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait between 6am yesterday and 6am today, the Ministry of National Defense said this morning. The aircraft entered Taiwan’s northern, central, southwestern and eastern air defense identification zones, the ministry said. The armed forces responded with mission aircraft, naval vessels and shore-based missile systems to closely monitor the situation, it added. Eight naval vessels, one official ship and 36 aircraft sorties were spotted in total, the ministry said.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) today said that if South Korea does not reply appropriately to its request to correct Taiwan’s name on its e-Arrival card system before March 31, it would take corresponding measures to alter how South Korea is labeled on the online Taiwan Arrival Card system. South Korea’s e-Arrival card system lists Taiwan as “China (Taiwan)” in the “point of departure” and “next destination” fields. The ministry said that it changed the nationality for South Koreans on Taiwan’s Alien Resident Certificates from “Korea” to “South Korea” on March 1, in a gesture of goodwill and based on the
Taiwanese officials were shown the first of 66 F-16V fighter jets purchased by Taiwan from the United States, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday, adding the aircraft has completed an initial flight test and is expected to be delivered later this year. A delegation led by Deputy Minister of National Defense Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉) visited Lockheed Martin’s F-16 C/D Block 70 (also known as F-16V) assembly line in South Carolina on March 16 to view the aircraft. The jet will undergo a final acceptance flight in the US before being delivered to Taiwan, the
The New Taipei Metro's Sanyin Line and the eastern extension of the Taipei Metro's Tamsui-Xinyi Line (Red Line) are scheduled to begin operations in June, the National Development Council said today. The Red Line, which terminates at Xiangshan Station, would be connected by the 1.4km extension to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, while the Sanyin Line would link New Taipei City's Tucheng and Yingge stations via Sanxia District (三峽). The council gave the updates at a council meeting reviewing progress on public construction projects for this year. Taiwan's annual public infrastructure budget would remain at NT$800 billion (US$25.08 billion), with NT$97.3
RSS