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Survey Findings on HKSAR Government’s Popularity in October 2018 Released by Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies at CUHK
A telephone survey was conducted from 15 to 22 October 2018 by the Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies, The Chinese University of Hong Kong to study the popularity of the HKSAR Government. A total of 706 respondents aged 18 or above were successfully interviewed, with a response rate of 36.2%. The sampling error is estimated at plus or minus 3.69 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.
Major findings are summarized as follows:
Satisfaction with the HKSAR Government. According to the survey, 29.5% of the 706 respondents expressed satisfaction towards the HKSAR Government, 33.0% said they were dissatisfied, and 36.4% answered ‘in-between’. The corresponding figures for September 2018 were 30.0%, 32.4%, and 36.7%, respectively. Statistical analysis shows that the results for October 2018 were not significantly different from those of September. When comparing the figures with that from the same month last year (i.e. October 2017), it was found that the percentage of satisfaction in October 2018 (29.5%) was lower than that of October 2017 (35.0%). The difference in percentage distribution between October 2018 and October 2017 was also found to be statistically significant.
Rating of Chief Executive Carrie Lam. The survey in October 2018 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 52.3 on average, lower than the rating for September (53.9). The statistical significance test (t-test) shows that the mean difference between the rating in October and the rating in September was not statistically significant. However, if her current rating (52.3) in October 2018 is compared with the rating in October 2017 (57.2), the mean difference of the two months is statistically significant.
Ratings of Three Secretaries. The ratings of the Chief Secretary for Administration (Matthew Cheung), Financial Secretary (Paul Chan) and Secretary for Justice (Teresa Cheng) in October 2018 were 49.9, 41.4 and 41.0 respectively. The corresponding figures in September 2018 were 50.6, 41.5 and 42.1. Comparing the ratings of the three Secretaries between October 2018 and September 2018 shows that no statistically significant differences were found. When their ratings in October 2018 were compared with the respective figures in October 2017, statistically significant differences were found for the Chief Secretary for Administration and the Financial Secretary (the Secretary for Justice, Teresa Cheng, was not in office in October 2017, so no comparison can be made).
Trust in the HKSAR Government. As of October 2018, 29.0% of the respondents showed trust in the HKSAR Government and 23.1% expressed distrust; 45.2% answered ‘in-between’. The results in September 2018 were 30.6%, 20.7%, and 47.4%, respectively. There was no statistically significant difference in trust in the HKSAR Government between October 2018 and September 2018. Comparing the figures in the current survey with those of October 2017, it shows that the percentage of trust in the HKSAR Government in October 2018 (29.0%) was lower than that of October 2017 (36.3%). Statistically significant difference was also found between these two months.
Trust in the Central Government. Regarding the level of trust in the Central Government in October 2018, 20.1% said they trusted it, 38.7% answered the opposite, and 36.3% said ‘in-between’. The respective figures from September were 21.4%, 37.3%, and 35.9%. Statistically significant differences were not found between September 2018 and October 2018. Also, the difference between the percentage in October 2018 (Trust: 20.1%; Distrust: 38.7%) and the percentage in October 2017 (Trust: 22.2%; Distrust: 36.9%) was not statistically significant.
