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A telephone survey was conducted from 21 to 23 July 2015 by Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies, The Chinese University of Hong Kong to study the public views on the performance, functions, role, and prospect of political parties in Hong Kong. 814 respondents aged 18 or above were successfully interviewed, with a response rate of 44.8%.  The sampling error is + or –3.42 at a confidence level of 95%. 

Major findings are summarized as follows: 

While 43.9% of the respondents expressed dissatisfaction with the overall performance of political parties in Hong Kong, only 7.5% said they were satisfied.  43.9% answered ‘in-between’.  When they were asked if they viewed political parties more positively or negatively when compared with that of last year, 60.9% of 814 respondents said their overall impression on political parties has worsened, 4.7% reported an improvement, and 31.2% indicated no change.  Prospectively, over one-half of the respondents (53.5%) were pessimistic about the development of political parties in Hong Kong in the next decade, only 10.0% showed optimism. 

Concerning perceived roles and functions of political parties in Hong Kong, over one-third (36.4%) agreed with the statement that ‘Political parties in Hong Kong could absorb and train political talents’.  29.1% disagreed with it and 29.6% said ‘in-between’.  When the respondents were asked if political parties in Hong Kong could effectively monitor government, 28.6% agreed and 30.0% disagreed.  Moreover, 23.6% of the respondents said that political parties in Hong Kong could represent different views of the public, 33.7% disagreed.  Three-fifth (61.0%) agreed that ‘in Hong Kong, many government policies could not be smoothly implemented without the support of political parties’ and 17.0% disagreed with this view. 

In the survey, questions about impression of the public on political parties were also asked.  While over two-fifth of the respondents (43.5%) agreed that ‘those who join political parties in Hong Kong are for self-interests rather than genuinely serving the public’, 12.8% showed opposite view and 39.4% said ‘in-between’.  Furthermore, 57.4% of the respondents thought that political parties in Hong Kong were not doing their job but engaging in arguments among themselves and 16.9% said otherwise. 

Contrary to the popular view that people in Hong Kong are apolitical, 39.0% of respondents disagreed that ‘people in Hong Kong are not interested in political parties and do not care about their performance’.  A quarter (26.0%) supported this popular view. 

Half of the respondents (50.0%) believed that ‘it would be difficult for political parties in Hong Kong to play a more important and active role before the implementation of universal suffrage in the HKSAR Chief Executive and the Legislative Council’.  17.5% disagreed with this statement and 25.5% said ‘in-between’.  As for the future political scenario of Hong Kong, nearly one-third (32.0%) supported having elected political parties to rule the HKSAR in the long run.  27.4% opposed this idea. 

The top five political parties or organizations that gained the most support from the respondents were the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (11.3%), the Democratic Party (7.5%), the Civic Party (5.7%), the New People’s Party (1.7%), and the People Power (1.6%). Over half (55.4%) of the respondents claimed that they did not support any political parties or organizations in Hong Kong.