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Survey findings on HKSAR government’s popularity in July 2023 released by Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies at CUHK
The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK)’s Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies conducted a telephone survey from 20 July to 21 August 2023 to study the popularity of the HKSAR government. The major findings are:
Satisfaction with the HKSAR government. In the July 2023 survey, 25.7% of the 711 respondents expressed satisfaction with the HKSAR government, 28.8% said they were dissatisfied and 44.3% answered “in-between”. The corresponding figures for May 2023 were 26.6%, 27.9% and 44.4% respectively. The statistical analysis (chi-square test) shows that the results for July 2023 were not statistically significantly different from those for May 2023. However, the comparison between July 2023 (satisfied: 25.7%; dissatisfied: 28.8%) and July 2022 (satisfied: 21.5%; dissatisfied: 37.9%) indicated that the differences in percentage distribution were statistically significant.
Rating of Chief Executive John Lee. The survey in July 2023 indicated that Chief Executive John Lee’s performance rating (on a point scale ranging from 0 to 100, with 50 as the pass mark) stood at 50.4 on average, significantly higher than that in July 2022 (42.9). However, there was no statistically significant difference between July 2023 (50.4) and May 2023 (51.0).
Ratings of three secretaries. The average performance ratings of the Chief Secretary for Administration (Eric Chan), Financial Secretary (Paul Chan) and Secretary for Justice (Paul Lam) in July 2023 were 45.9, 52.0 and 44.5 respectively. When comparing the July 2023 figures with those from May 2023, the differences in the average ratings of the three secretaries were statistically insignificant. The ratings of the three secretaries in July 2023 (Chief Secretary for Administration: 45.9; Financial Secretary: 52.0; Secretary for Justice: 44.5) were statistically significantly higher than the respective figures in July 2022 (Chief Secretary for Administration: 37.2; Financial Secretary: 44.4; Secretary for Justice: 39.0).
Trust in the HKSAR government. In July 2023, 28.2% of the respondents said they trusted the HKSAR government and 23.8% expressed distrust; 46.0% answered “in-between”. The corresponding figures for May 2023 were 30.3%, 23.4% and 44.0% respectively. No statistically significant difference was found between July 2023 and May 2023. However, the percentage differences between July 2023 (trust: 28.2%; distrust: 23.8%) and July 2022 (trust: 24.6%; distrust: 28.1%) were statistically significant.
Trust in the Central Government. Regarding the level of trust in the Central Government in July 2023, 28.6% said they trusted it, 27.6% answered the opposite and 37.1% said “in-between”. The respective figures in May 2023 were 25.6%, 29.5% and 36.6%. There was no statistically significant difference between July 2023 and May 2023. However, the difference between the percentage distribution in July 2023 (trust: 28.6%; distrust: 27.6%) and July 2022 (trust: 22.3%; distrust: 32.9%) was statistically significant.
In conclusion, the survey results in July 2023 indicate that all the popularity indices (the public satisfaction level with the HKSAR government’s performance, the performance ratings of the Chief Executive and the three secretaries, and trust in the HKSAR government and the Central Government) were not significantly different from those in May 2023 (significance test shows the differences were not statistically significant). However, the public satisfaction level with the HKSAR government’s performance, the performance ratings of the Chief Executive and the three secretaries, and trust in the HKSAR government and the Central Government in July 2023 were significantly higher than those in July 2022 (significance test 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 711 respondents aged 18 or above (landline: 225; mobile: 486) were successfully interviewed, with response rates of 20.5% (landline) and 22.2% (mobile). The sampling error for the sample size of 711 is estimated at plus or minus 3.68 percentage points at 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.
