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Survey Findings on HKSAR Government’s Popularity in September 2018 Released by Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies at CUHK
A telephone survey was conducted from 19 to 26 September 2018 by the Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies, The Chinese University of Hong Kong to study the popularity of the HKSAR Government. 719 respondents aged 18 or above were successfully interviewed, with a response rate of 37.9%. The sampling error is estimated at plus or minus 3.65 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.
Major findings are summarized as follows:
Satisfaction with the HKSAR Government. According to the current survey, 30.0% of the 719 respondents expressed satisfaction towards the HKSAR Government, 32.4% said they were dissatisfied, and 36.7% answered ‘in-between’. The corresponding figures for August 2018 were 31.3%, 28.2%, and 40.0%, respectively. Statistical analysis shows that the results for September 2018 were not significantly different from those of August. When comparing the figures with the same month last year (i.e. September 2017), it is found that the percentage of satisfaction in September 2018 (30.0%) was lower than that of September 2017 (32.0%) but the difference in percentage distribution between September 2018 and September 2017 was found to be not statistically significant.
Rating of Chief Executive Carrie Lam. The current survey in September 2018 indicated that the performance rating of the Chief Executive Carrie Lam (with a point scale ranging from 0 to 100 with 50 as the passing mark) stood at 53.9 on average, lower than the rating for August (56.2). The statistical significance test (t-test) also shows that the mean difference between September and August was statistically significant. However, if her current rating (53.9) in September 2018 is compared with the rating in September 2017 (56.0), the mean difference of the two months was not statistically significant.
Ratings of Three Secretaries. The ratings of Chief Secretary for Administration (Matthew Cheung), Financial Secretary (Paul Chan) and Secretary for Justice (Teresa Cheng) in September 2018 were 50.6, 41.5 and 42.1 respectively. The corresponding figures in August 2018 were 51.8, 42.5 and 43.1. Comparing the ratings of the three Secretaries between September 2018 and August 2018 shows that no statistically significant difference was found. When their ratings in September 2018 were compared with the respective figures in September 2017, no statistically significant difference were detected for Chief Secretary for Administration but statistically significant difference were found for Financial Secretary (since the Secretary for Justice, Teresa Cheng, was not in office in September 2017, no comparison can be made).
Trust in the HKSAR Government. As of September 2018, 30.6% of the respondents showed trust in the HKSAR Government and 20.7% expressed distrust; 47.4% answered ‘in-between’. The results in August 2018 were 31.8%, 20.1%, and 46.5%, respectively. There was no statistically significant difference in trust in the HKSAR Government between September 2018 and August 2018. When comparing the figures with those of September 2017, it is showed that the percentage of trust in the HKSAR Government in September 2018 (30.6%) was lower than that of September 2017 (34.8%). But no statistically significant difference was found between these two months.
Trust in the Central Government. Regarding the level of trust in the Central Government in September 2018, 21.4% said they trusted it, 37.3% answered the opposite, and 35.9% said ‘in-between’. The respective figures from August were 22.5%, 36.7%, and 35.1%, respectively. Statistically significant differences were not found between August 2018 and September 2018. Also, the difference between September 2018 (Trust: 21.4%; Distrust: 37.3%) and September 2017 (Trust: 23.8%; Distrust: 37.6%) was not statistically significant.
