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Survey findings on HKSAR government’s popularity in March 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 15 to 31 March 2023 to study the popularity of the HKSAR government. The major findings are:
Satisfaction with the HKSAR government. In the March 2023 survey, 26.0% of the 717 respondents expressed satisfaction with the HKSAR government, 25.9% said they were dissatisfied and 47.1% answered “in-between”. The corresponding figures for January 2023 were 25.6%, 28.6% and 43.7% respectively. The statistical analysis (chi-square test) shows that the results for March 2023 were not statistically significantly different from those for January 2023. However, when comparing the March 2023 figures (satisfied: 26.0%; dissatisfied: 25.9%) with those from April 2022 (satisfied: 13.5%; dissatisfied: 46.8%), the differences in percentage distribution were statistically significant.
Rating of Chief Executive John Lee. The survey in March 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 50.8 on average, significantly higher than that in July 2022 (42.9). However, the difference between March 2023 (50.8) and January 2023 (49.3) was statistically insignificant.
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 March 2023 were 44.5, 51.1 and 43.4 respectively. The comparison of the ratings of the three secretaries between March 2023 and April 2022 indicated that the differences for all three were not statistically significant. The rating of Paul Chan in March 2023 (51.1) was statistically significantly higher than the respective figure in April 2022 (42.7).
Trust in the HKSAR government. In March 2023, 29.3% of the respondents said they trusted the HKSAR government and 22.5% expressed distrust; 45.7% answered “in-between”. The results in January 2023 were 26.7%, 23.6% and 46.3% respectively. There was no statistically significant difference in trust in the HKSAR government between March 2023 and January 2023. However, the percentage differences between March 2023 (trust: 29.3%; distrust: 22.5%) and April 2022 (trust: 19.7%; distrust: 30.8%) were statistically significant.
Trust in the Central Government. Regarding the level of trust in the Central Government in March 2023, 25.5% said they trusted it, 30.2% answered the opposite and 34.5% said “in-between”. The respective figures in January 2023 were 21.4%, 31.6% and 36.6%. No statistically significant difference was found between March 2023 and January 2023. However, the difference between the percentage distribution in March 2023 (trust: 25.5%; distrust: 30.2%) and April 2022 (trust: 21.4%; distrust: 37.5%) was statistically significant.
In conclusion, the survey results in March 2023 indicate that all the popularity indices (the public satisfaction level with the HKSAR government’s performance, the performance rating 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 January 2023 (significance test shows the differences were not statistically significant). However, the public satisfaction level with the HKSAR government’s performance, the performance rating of the Financial Secretary and trust in the HKSAR government and the Central Government in the current survey were significantly higher than those in April 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 717 respondents aged 18 or above (landline: 321; mobile: 396) were successfully interviewed, with response rates of 27.0% (landline) and 31.8% (mobile). The sampling error for the sample size of 717 is estimated at plus or minus 3.66 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.
