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The Chinese University of Hong Kong’s (CUHK) Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies conducted a telephone survey from 21 April to 29 April, 2022 to study the popularity of the HKSAR Government. The major findings are:

Satisfaction with the HKSAR Government.  According to the survey, 13.5% of the 706 respondents expressed satisfaction with the HKSAR Government, 46.8% said they were dissatisfied and 38.5% answered ‘in-between’. The corresponding figures for January 2022 were 17.3%, 48.5% and 31.8% respectively. The statistical analysis (chi-square test) shows that the results for April 2022 were statistically significantly different from those for January 2022. Also, when comparing the April 2022 figures with those from April 2021, the difference in percentage distribution was statistically significant.

Rating of Chief Executive Carrie Lam.  The survey in April 2022 indicated that Chief Executive Carrie Lam’s performance rating (on a point scale ranging from 0 to 100, with 50 as the pass mark) stood at 33.6 on average, close to the ratings in January 2022 (33.3). The statistical significance test (t-test) showed that the mean difference between the ratings in April 2022 and January 2022 was not statistically significant. When comparing her current rating (33.6) with that of April 2021 (28.4), the mean difference was statistically significant.

Ratings of Three Secretaries.  The ratings of John Lee, who resigned from his office as Chief Secretary to run in the next Chief Executive election, Paul Chan (Financial Secretary) and Teresa Cheng (Secretary for Justice) in the April 2022 survey were 34.0, 42.7 and 26.9 respectively. The corresponding figures in January 2022 were 29.1, 38.7 and 25.1 respectively. When their ratings in April 2022 were compared with the respective figures in January 2022, statistically significant differences were found for John Lee and Paul Chan but not for Teresa Cheng. When their ratings in April 2022 were compared with the respective figures in April 2021, the current ratings of Paul Chan and Teresa Cheng were higher than last year and the differences were statistically significant. John Lee was appointed as the Chief Secretary for Administration in July 2021, and therefore no comparison could be made.

Trust in the HKSAR Government.  As of April 2022, 19.7% of the respondents said they trusted the HKSAR Government and 30.8% expressed distrust; 45.2% answered ‘in-between’. The results in January 2022 were 22.0%, 37.4%, and 36.8% respectively. A statistically significant difference was found in trust in the HKSAR Government between April 2022 and January 2022. Moreover, when comparing the figures in the current survey with those of April 2021, the difference between April 2022 (Trust: 19.7%; Distrust: 30.8%) and April 2021 (Trust: 16.5%; Distrust: 51.4%) was also statistically significant.

Trust in the Central Government.  Regarding the level of trust in the Central Government in April 2022, 21.4% said they trusted it, 37.5% answered the opposite and 31.9% said ‘in-between’. The respective figures from January 2022 were 21.3%, 39.7%, and 32.0%. No statistically significant difference was found between April 2022 and January 2022. However, the difference between the percentages in April 2022 (Trust: 21.4%; Distrust: 37.5%) and April 2021 (Trust: 17.5%; Distrust: 56.7%) was statistically significant.

In conclusion, the results of the April 2022 survey showed that compared with the survey conducted in January this year, differences in the performance ratings of Carrie Lam and Teresa Cheng, as well as trust in the central government, were not statistically significant. By contrast, public satisfaction levels with government performance, the performance ratings of John Lee and Paul Chan, and trust in the HKSAR government all showed statistically significant increases. When compared with the survey conducted in April 2021, all the popularity indices in the current April 2022 survey were found to be significantly higher than those a year ago (a 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 706 respondents aged 18 or above (landline: 349; mobile: 357) were successfully interviewed, with response rates of 27.9% (landline) and 30.7% (mobile). The sampling error for the sample size of 706 is estimated at plus or minus 3.69 percentage points at a 95% confidence level. Furthermore, the data in 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.