Tsai voted most likeable above Han, Ko, Trump, Xi

‘FEELING THERMOMETER’: The survey was said to show that Taiwanese prefer the US over China, with the US president topping Xi Jinping, as well as Han Kuo-yu

By Lin Chia-nan / Staff reporter





President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) was ranked “most likeable” on a list that included Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) and Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), a Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation survey released yesterday showed.

The Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) Tsai is seeking re-election in next year’s election, while Han is the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) candidate and Ko, who founded the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) this month, has not said whether he intends to join the race.

The poll asked whether participants liked Tsai, Ko, Han, US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平).

Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation chairman Michael You speaks at a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times

Tsai was rated at 54.91 on the poll’s “feeling thermometer,” with 100 being the top score possible, followed by Ko (51.77), Trump (50.42), Han (40.56) and Xi (36.22), the poll showed.

Taiwanese have an affinity to the US, not China, foundation chairman Michael You (游盈隆) told a news conference at the Regent Taipei, where the foundation celebrated its third anniversary.

Tsai’s support rate has fluctuated from 69.9 percent in May 2016 — when she became president — to a record low of 24.3 percent in December last year, but rose to 46.8 percent in June and slightly declined to 45.1 percent this month, foundation data showed.

Fifty-three percent of respondents in yesterday’s poll said that the government should show more support for pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong, while 38.5 percent disagreed.

Regarding the economic performance of the Tsai administration, 41.4 percent said that they were satisfied, while 52.3 percent were dissatisfied.

The political scene is unpredictable with the recent establishment of new parties in the run-up to presidential and legislative elections in January next year, You said.

The DPP was supported by 30.2 percent of respondents, the KMT by 29.6 percent, the TPP by 8.1 percent, and the New Power Party (NPP) by 6.7 percent, the poll showed.

The NPP might be on the verge of collapse, as its support rate dropped by 5 percentage points from last month and was outstripped by the TPP, You said.

The poll, conducted via telephone on Monday and Tuesday, collected 1,085 valid samples. It had a margin of error of 2.98 percentage points.