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Survey Findings on HKSAR Government’s Popularity in May 2019 Released by Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies at CUHK
A telephone survey was conducted from 20 to 25 May 2019 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 704 respondents aged 18 or above were successfully interviewed, with a response rate of 36.7%. The sampling error is estimated at plus or minus 3.69 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.
Major findings are summarised as follows:
Satisfaction with the HKSAR Government. According to the survey, 22.6% of the 704 respondents expressed satisfaction towards the HKSAR Government, 40.5% said they were dissatisfied, and 34.2% answered ‘in-between’. The corresponding figures for April 2019 were 26.6%, 37.1%, and 35.5%, respectively. The statistical analysis shows that the results for May 2019 were significantly different from those of April 2019. When comparing the figures with that from the same month last year (i.e. May 2018), it was found that the percentage of satisfaction in May 2019 (22.6%) was obviously lower than that of May 2018 (33.1%). The difference in percentage distribution between May 2019 and May 2018 was also statistically significant.
Rating of Chief Executive Carrie Lam. The survey in May 2019 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 48.1 on average, lower than the rating for April (51.0). The statistical significance test (t-test) shows that the mean difference between the rating in May 2019 and the rating in April 2019 was statistically significant. Also, when comparing her current rating (48.1) with that of May 2018 (57.0), the mean difference of the two months was 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 May 2019 were 45.0, 38.3 and 33.7 respectively. The corresponding figures in April 2019 were 47.7, 39.9 and 36.5. The comparison of the ratings of the three Secretaries between May 2019 and April 2019 shows that except the Financial Secretary, statistically significant differences were found for the Chief Secretary for Administration and the Secretary for Justice. When their ratings in May 2019 were compared with the respective figures in May 2018, statistically significant differences were all found for them.
Trust in the HKSAR Government. As of May 2019, 24.9% of the respondents showed trust in the HKSAR Government and 30.1% expressed distrust; 40.5% answered ‘in-between’. The results in April 2019 were 26.7%, 28.3%, and 43.3%, respectively. There was statistically significant difference in trust in the HKSAR Government between May 2019 and April 2019. Comparing the figure in the current survey with those of May 2018, it shows that the percentage of trust in the HKSAR Government in May 2019 (24.9%) was lower than that of May 2018 (34.0%), and 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 May 2019, 21.6% said they trusted it, 41.1% answered the opposite, and 29.1% said ‘in-between’. The respective figures from April were 22.0%, 39.5%, and 33.2%. Statistically significant differences were not found between May 2019 and April 2019. Moreover, the difference between the percentages in May 2019 (Trust: 21.6%; Distrust: 41.1%) and the percentages in May 2018 (Trust: 23.0%; Distrust: 40.1%) was also not statistically significant.
