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A telephone survey was conducted from 16 September to 25 September, 2021 by the Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) to study the popularity of the HKSAR Government. The major findings are summarised as follows:

Satisfaction with the HKSAR Government.  According to the current survey in September 2021, 17.3% of the 716 respondents expressed satisfaction towards the HKSAR Government, 51.7% said they were dissatisfied, and 29.8% answered ‘in-between’.  The corresponding figures for July 2021 were 17.6%, 51.6%, and 29.7%, respectively.  The statistical analysis shows that the results for September 2021 were not statistically significant different from those of July 2021.  However, when comparing the figures with those from September 2020, the difference in percentage distribution between September 2021 and September 2020 was found statistically significant.

Rating of Chief Executive Carrie Lam.  The survey in September 2021 indicated that the performance rating of Chief Executive Carrie Lam (with a point scale ranging from 0 to 100, 50 as the passing mark) stood at 31.0 on average, higher than the rating for July 2021 (32.1).  But the statistical significance test (t-test) showed that the mean difference between the rating in September 2021 and the rating in July 2021 was not statistically significant.  When comparing her current rating (31.0) with that of September 2020 (24.5), the mean difference of the two months was found statistically significant.

Ratings of Three Secretaries.  The ratings of the Chief Secretary for Administration (John Lee), Financial Secretary (Paul Chan) and Secretary for Justice (Teresa Cheng) in September 2021 were 29.0, 34.6 and 23.3 respectively.  The corresponding figures in July 2021 were 32.1, 37.1 and 23.3 respectively.  The comparison of the ratings of the three Secretaries between September 2021 and July 2021 did not find any statistically significant differences.  When their ratings in September 2021 were compared with the respective figures in September 2020, the current rating of the Financial Secretary and the Secretary for Justice were higher than those in September 2020 and the rating differences was detected statistically significant.  On the other hand, the Chief Secretary for Administration was appointed in July 2021 so no any comparison was made. 

Trust in the HKSAR Government.  As of September 2021, 21.2% of the respondents showed trust in the HKSAR Government and 44.5% expressed distrust; 32.9% answered ‘in-between’.  The results in July 2021 were 19.4%, 43.0%, and 35.4%, respectively.  No statistically significant difference was found in trust in the HKSAR Government between September 2021 and July 2021.  When comparing the figure in the current survey with those of September 2020, the difference between the percentages in September 2021 (Trust: 21.2%; Distrust: 44.5%) and the percentages in September 2020 (Trust: 16.8%; Distrust: 58.6%) was observed to be statistically significant. 

Trust in the Central Government.  Regarding the level of trust in the Central Government in September 2021, 21.2% said they trusted it, 47.6% answered the opposite, and 29.0% said ‘in-between’.  The respective figures from July 2021 were 23.9%, 47.7%, and 24.9%.  Not statistically significant difference was found between September 2021 and July 2021.  The difference between the percentages in September 2021 (Trust: 21.2%; Distrust: 47.6%) and those of September 2020 (Trust: 14.4%; Distrust: 60.1) was found statistically significant.

In conclusion, the current survey results in September 2021 indicate that all the popularity indices (the public satisfaction level of the government performance, the performance rating of the Chief Executive and the three Secretaries, and even the trust in the HKSAR Government and the Central Government) were not significantly different from those in June 2021 (significance test shows the differences are not statistically significant).  However, when compared with the survey conducted in September 2020, all the popularity indices in current survey were found significantly higher than those in the last year (significance test also shows the differences are all statistically significant).

The survey employed a dual-frame sampling design that included both landline and mobile phone numbers.  A total of 716 respondents aged 18 or above (landline: 351; mobile: 365) were successfully interviewed, with response rates of 27.7% (landline) and 32.4% (mobile).  The sampling error for the sample size of 716 is estimated at plus or minus 3.66 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.  Furthermore, the data of this survey was weighted based on the probability of the respondents being selected via dual-frame sampling design and relevant age-sex distribution of the population published by the Census and Statistics Department before analysis.