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Global Views center’s
move raises fears of interference
By Jake Chung / Staff Writer
The Global Views Survey Research Center’s sudden announcement on Tuesday that it
would no longer conduct polls on elections or political issues has triggered
intense media coverage and allegations that it caved in to political pressure.
The surveys the center had been conducting on January’s presidential election,
as well as its monthly public support trend investigation and political party
inclination investigation will all be halted.
The center’s last survey was conducted on Sept. 21 and found that if President
Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) ran just against Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)
Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), support for Ma was 39.2 percent to Tsai’s 38.3.
percent.
If People First Party Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) joined the race, Soong would
garner 10 percent of the votes, and Tsai would lead Ma with 36 percent to his
35.8 percent, the survey found.
DPP spokesman Chuang Ruei-hsiung (莊瑞雄) was quoted yesterday by online media
Newtalk as saying the center’s sudden announcement had aroused public suspicion
about political interference.
The DPP cares about press freedom, and was worried that political interference
could cause regression in Taiwan’s press liberties, Chuang said.
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