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進入《TAIPEI TIMES 焦點》 Polls show drop in President Tsai’s approval ratings
Taiwan Thinktank polling director Chou Yung-hong, right, points to a graph at a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
By Chen Wei-han / Staff reporter
Three opinion polls released yesterday by the Taiwan Thinktank and the Chinese-language Apple Daily and China Times newspapers saw President Tsai Ing-wen’s （蔡英文） approval ratings drop below 50 percent ahead of her 100th day in office today, while her disapproval ratings rose.
According to the Taiwan Thinktank poll, 48.5 percent of respondents said they were satisfied with Tsai’s performance, down 0.6 percentage points from last month. The percentage of people who said they were unsatisfied with her performance rose 2.4 percentage points from last month to 38.4 percent.
Premier Lin Chuan’s （林全） disapproval rating surpassed his approval rating, at 41 percent and 39.6 percent respectively, Taiwan Thinktank polling director Chou Yung-hong （周永鴻） said.
There was no significant change in Tsai’s approval rating, but her disapproval rating increased noticeably, Chou said.
Among people who expressed dissatisfaction with Tsai’s administration, issues they disagreed with most were the employees’ leave policy （42.1 percent）, the cross-strait policy （30.5 percent） and pension reform （20.1 percent）, Chou said.
The three most popular policies among respondents who said they approved of the administration were the handling of ill-gotten party assets （29.7 percent）, pension reform （27.3 percent） and employees’ leave policy （21.5 percent）, he said.
In the Apple Daily poll, Tsai’s approval and disapproval ratings were 43.59 percent and 50.49 percent respectively, while Lin had an approval rating of 38.12 percent and a disapproval rating of 53.17 percent.
The disapproval ratings rose 20 percentage points for Tsai and 15 for Lin from June, according to the poll.
Respondents said they were most dissatisfied with the administration’s cross-strait policy （49.5 percent）, economic policy （49.04 percent） and labor policy （48.76 percent）.
In the China Times poll, 41.4 percent of respondents said they were satisfied with Tsai’s performance, and 40.4 percent said they were dissatisfied, while for Lin, 36.7 percent said they were satisfied and 47.2 percent expressed dissatisfaction.
The China Times poll showed that 48.6 percent of respondents said the government has to dedicate the most effort to developing the economy, followed by education reform （9.7 percent） and pension reform （9 percent）.
“Although Tsai’s administration has clear reform goals, its actions are confusing, which explains the rise of Tsai’s and Lin’s disapproval ratings,” New Power Party Legislator Hsu Yung-ming （徐永明） said.
In terms of labor policy, the administration over a short period of time put forward different schemes for holidays, such as a five-day workweek with a mandatory day off and a flexible “rest day”; a policy that entitles employees to one mandatory day off every seven days; and a proposed increase in annual leave, Hsu said.
“The inconsistency of those schemes confused the public, which was worsened by the discord between the administrative and legislative branches,” he said.
“It is most important for the government to propose policies relevant to the public, or the government will have a hard time regaining trust,” Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Tsai Shih-ying （蔡適應） said.
Presidential Office spokesman Alex Huang （黃重諺） said the office respected all the poll results and will continue to carry out reforms and improve its management.
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
