離開
進入《TAIPEI TIMES》 About half support Tsai’s performance
At a news conference in Taipei yesterday, Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation chairman You Ying-lung presents the results of an opinion poll on President Tsai Ing-wen’s performance in her first two years in office. Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
By Lee I-chia / Staff reporter
One public opinion poll released yesterday showed a 53.5 percent approval rating for President Tsai Ing-wen （蔡英文）, while another showed respondents giving her an average rating of 52.61 out of 100 for her first two years in office.
The Taiwan NextGen Foundation and the Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation （TPOF） released their polls on the second anniversary of Tsai’s inauguration.
The Taiwan NextGen Foundation’s survey found that 53.5 percent of respondents support Tsai, while 44.4 percent were satisfied with her performance.
Asked about the government’s reform effort, 40.7 percent of respondents said they were satisfied and 65.5 percent said they support Tsai pushing forward reforms during her first term.
Tsai showed a strong determination to carry out reforms and the public has high expectations, but the results cannot be seen in the short term, so “the low satisfaction rate reflects dissatisfaction at a lack of results,” said Li Shih-hui （李世暉）, a professor at National Chengchi University College of International Affairs.
A breakdown by political affiliation shows that more than 88 percent of respondents affiliated with the Democratic Progressive Party （DPP） and the New Power Party support the reforms, as well as 58.3 percent of those who are politically neutral, but more than 77 percent of Chinese Nationalist Party （KMT）-affiliated respondents do not.
Asked for whom they would vote if Tsai were to run against KMT Chairman Wu Den-yih （吳敦義） in the 2020 presidential election, Tsai’s support rate was 54.5 percent, significantly higher than Wu’s 23.3 percent.
The TPOF’s poll found that 39.2 percent of respondents approved of Tsai’s leadership — a 7.2 percent increase from last month — while 47.6 percent did not.
When asked to give Tsai’s overall performance a mark from zero to 100, with 60 being a passing mark, 50.1 percent of respondents rated her above that threshold, while 45.2 percent believed she did not pass, resulting in an average of 52.61.
The 39.2 percent approval rating is Tsai’s highest in the past five months, TPOF chairman You Ying-lung （游盈隆） said, adding that it could be the result of improved DPP cohesion following the appointment of former Kaohsiung mayor Chen Chu （陳菊） as Presidential Office secretary-general, or because Chinese obstructions have made people want to back the nation’s leaders.
Tsai’s administration received the highest satisfaction rate in the area of pension reform （49.8 percent）, followed by national defense （42.8 percent）.
People were least satisfied with economic performance, with only 35.2 percent expressing approval, likely because reforms have not yet shown effective results, You said.
The poll also showed that 45 percent of respondents thought that the transfer of power from the KMT to the DPP had not brought about change, with 44.5 percent saying that the nation’s overall development has not changed much.
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
