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The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK)’s Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies conducted a telephone survey from 28 May to 24 June 2024 to study the popularity of the Hong Kong government. The major findings are:

Satisfaction with the Hong Kong government. In the survey of May 2024, 19.7% of respondents expressed satisfaction with the Hong Kong government, 36.7% said they were dissatisfied and 40.9% answered “in-between”. The corresponding figures for the previous survey (March 2024) were 16.9%, 43.5% and 37.7% respectively. The statistical analysis (chi-square test) shows there was no statistically significant difference between the results for May 2024 and those for March 2024. When comparing the May 2024 figures (satisfied: 19.7%; dissatisfied: 36.7%) with those from the same period last year (May 2023, satisfied: 26.6%; dissatisfied: 27.9%), the differences in percentage distribution were statistically significant.

Rating of Chief Executive John Lee. In the May 2024 survey, Chief Executive John Lee’s performance rating (on a point scale ranging from 0 to 100, with 50 as the pass mark) stood at 49.9 on average, higher than that in March 2024 (44.6), with a mean difference that was statistically significant. There was no statistically significant difference between May 2024 (49.9) 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 May 2024 were 45.7, 48.6 and 45.4 respectively. When comparing the May 2024 figures with those from March 2024 (Chief Secretary for Administration: 41.4; Financial Secretary: 44.5; Secretary for Justice: 41.1), statistically significant differences were found for all three secretaries. The rating of the Financial Secretary in May 2024 (48.6) was also statistically significantly lower than the respective figure in May 2023 (52.3).

Trust in the Hong Kong government. In May 2024, 25.8% of the respondents said they trusted the Hong Kong government and 30.6% expressed distrust; 41.4% answered “in-between”. The corresponding figures for March 2024 were 22.5%, 34.4% and 40.7% respectively. No statistically significant difference was found between May 2024 and March 2024. However, the percentage differences between May 2024 (trust: 25.8%; distrust: 30.6%) and May 2023 (trust: 30.3%; distrust: 23.4%) were statistically significant.

Trust in the Central Government. Regarding the level of trust in the Central Government in May 2024, 32.6% said they trusted it, 29.6% answered the opposite and 33.8% said “in-between”. The respective figures in March 2024 were 30.1%, 30.7% and 34.8%. There was no statistically significant difference between May 2024 and March 2024. However, the difference between the percentage distribution in May 2024 (trust: 32.6%; distrust: 29.6%) and May 2023 (trust: 25.6%; distrust: 29.5%) was statistically significant.

In conclusion, the survey results in May 2024 indicate that the public satisfaction level with the Hong Kong government’s performance, the level of trust in the Hong Kong government and the level of trust in the Central Government were not significantly different from those in March 2024 (the significance test shows the differences were not statistically significant); while the performance ratings of the Chief Executive and the three secretaries in May 2024 were significantly different from those in March 2024 (the significance test shows the differences were statistically significant).

The survey employed a dual-frame sampling design that included both landline and mobile phone numbers. A total of 705 respondents aged 18 or above (landline: 172; mobile: 533) were successfully interviewed, with response rate of 49.3% (landline: 49.6%; mobile: 49.2%). The sampling error for the sample size of 705 is estimated at plus or minus 3.69 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.