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Ma approval rate
drops below 25%
DOUBLE TROUBLE: Respondents in a Taiwan
Thinktank poll said that Ma should stick to his job as president and not double
up as KMT party chairman
By Lin Shu-hui / Staff reporter
A speaker explains a graph of
President Ma Ying-jeou’s approval rate at a press conference organized by the
Taiwan Thinktank in Taipei yesterday.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) approval
rate slipped from 38.5 percent in March to 24.7 percent this month, and at least
61 percent of respondents in a survey said he should focus on his work as
president and not double as chairman of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT),
according to a Taiwan Thinktank poll released yesterday.
Only 19.4 percent of respondents said Ma should continue serving as party
chairman, it said.
The survey showed that if Ma were to step down as KMT chairman, 37.7 percent of
respondents would support Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) taking over
the position, while 21.7 percent favored New Taipei City (新北市) Mayor Eric Chu
(朱立倫), 12.5 percent were for Greater Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強) and 8.7
percent picked vice president-elect Wu Den-yih (吳敦義).
Ma should carefully consider the option of stepping down as party chairperson
and focus on running the country, former Mainland Affairs Council chairman and
representative to the US Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said.
Ma’s deteriorating image and administration have only added to the suffering of
the people and the nation, he said.
Wang has a better emotional quotient than Ma, who only uses his “own people” and
then refuses to take responsibility, Wu said, adding that the president should
reflect on his actions and style of conducting business.
The Taiwan Thinktank survey also conducted its first-ever poll on the
president’s leadership abilities, with Ma receiving an overall score of 41.7
points. On a scale of 0 to 10, Ma’s highest score was for rectitude, garnering
5.84 points.
He scored below 5 in all other categories.
Ma scored 4.98 on honesty, 3.5 on popularity, 4.23 on capability, 4.13 on use of
personnel, 3.63 on the economy, 3.53 on overall policies, 3.91 on reform and
3.66 on power of persuasion, the survey showed.
Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明), convener of Taiwan Thinktanks’ survey division, said the
president’s lowest score was on popular support, which he said showed that
people felt that Ma did not understand what the public needs.
Ma’s rating on overall policies also showed that his policies were not attuned
to public demands, Hsu said.
The low score on the economy is the “soft underbelly” of the Ma administration,
he added.
The survey also showed that among the nation’s three directly elected
presidents, Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) was held in the highest regard by the general
public in terms of promoting economic development, democratic reforms and
Taiwan’s international profile.
A total of 50.8 percent of respondents regarded Lee as contributing the most to
Taiwan’s economic development, while 22.1 percent thought Ma did the most and
9.1 percent picked former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).
On contribution to democratic reforms, Chen received a low score after being
imprisoned on corruption charges, but Ma had roughly the same score as Chen,
which Hsu said meant Ma should reflect on his actions.
Wu, who served under the Chen administration, said Chen had made great
contributions to democratic reforms and promoting international recognition of
Taiwan, but most pan-green supporters probably chose Lee, resulting in Chen’s
low rating in the survey.
Future surveys could compare presidents one on one over certain issues and give
a general analysis so that such a survey would yield more precise results, he
said.
Translated by Jake Chung, Staff writer
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