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A telephone survey was conducted from 15 July to 26 July, 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 July 2021, 17.6% of the 706 respondents expressed satisfaction towards the HKSAR Government, 51.6% said they were dissatisfied, and 29.7% answered ‘in-between’.  The corresponding figures for June 2021 were 14.3%, 55.3%, and 29.8%, respectively.  The statistical analysis shows that the results for July 2021 were not statistically significant different from those of June 2021.  However, when comparing the figures with those from June 2020[i], the difference in percentage distribution between July 2021 and June 2020 was found statistically significant.

Rating of Chief Executive Carrie Lam.  The survey in July 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 32.1 on average, higher than the rating for June 2021 (29.3).  But the statistical significance test (t-test) showed that the mean difference between the rating in July 2021 and the rating in June 2021 was not statistically significant.  When comparing her current rating (32.1) with that of June 2020 (24.2), the mean difference of the two months was found statistically significant.

Ratings of Three Secretaries.  The rating of the newly-appointed Chief Secretary for Administration (John Lee) in July 2021 was 32.1.  The ratings of the Financial Secretary (Paul Chan) and Secretary for Justice (Teresa Cheng) in July 2021 were 37.1 and 23.3 respectively.  The corresponding figures in June 2021 were 31.2 and 20.4.  The comparison of the ratings of the two Secretaries between July 2021 and June 2021 was found statistically significant different.  When their ratings in July 2021 were compared with the respective figures in June 2020, statistically significant differences were also found.

Trust in the HKSAR Government.  As of July 2021, 19.4% of the respondents showed trust in the HKSAR Government and 43.0% expressed distrust; 35.4% answered ‘in-between’.  The results in June 2021 were 16.4%, 49.1%, and 32.7%, respectively.  No statistically significant difference was found in trust in the HKSAR Government between July 2021 and June 2021.  When comparing the figure in the current survey with those of June 2020, the difference between the percentages in July 2021 (Trust: 19.4%; Distrust: 43.0%) and the percentages in June 2020 (Trust: 18.1%; Distrust: 58.0%) was observed to be statistically significant.

Trust in the Central Government.  Regarding the level of trust in the Central Government in July 2021, 23.9% said they trusted it, 47.7% answered the opposite, and 24.9% said ‘in-between’.  The respective figures from June 2021 were 19.1%, 55.3%, and 21.8%.  Statistically significant difference was found between July 2021 and June 2021.  The difference between the percentages in July 2021 (Trust: 23.9%; Distrust: 47.7%) and those of June 2020 (Trust: 13.9%; Distrust: 66.6%) was also found statistically significant.

In conclusion, the current survey results indicate that the performance ratings of the Financial Secretary and Secretary for Justice and the trust in the Central Government in July 2021 were significantly higher than those in June 2021 (being detected as statistically significant by significance test).  But the public satisfaction level of the government performance, the performance rating of the Chief Executive, and the trust in the HKSAR Government in July 2021 were not significantly different from those in June 2021.  When comparing with the survey results between July 2021 and June 2020, all the popularity indices in July 2021 were better than those in June 2020 (significance test also shows the differences were 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: 350; mobile: 356) were successfully interviewed, with response rates of 28.1% (landline) and 31.9% (mobile).  The sampling error for the sample size of 706 is estimated at plus or minus 3.69 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.

[i]     The Telephone Survey Research Laboratory was suspended to work and the fieldwork of the monthly survey in July 2020 was not carried out due to a new wave of novel coronavirus outbreaks in Hong Kong during this month.  Thus, the figures used for yearly comparison in this survey came from June 2020 instead of July 2020.