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The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK)’s Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies conducted a telephone survey from 29 September to 14 October 2022 to study the popularity of the HKSAR Government. The major findings are:

Satisfaction with the HKSAR Government. In the September 2022 survey, 22.7% of the 705 respondents expressed satisfaction with the HKSAR Government, 32.4% said they were dissatisfied and 42.9% answered “in-between”. The corresponding figures for July 2022 were 21.5%, 37.9% and 36.8% respectively. The statistical analysis (chi-square test) shows that the results for September 2022 were statistically significantly different from those for July 2022. When comparing the September 2022 figures (satisfied: 22.7%; dissatisfied: 32.4%) with those from September 2021 (satisfied: 17.3%; dissatisfied: 51.7%), the differences in percentage distribution were also statistically significant.

Rating of Chief Executive John Lee. The survey in September 2022 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 46.5 on average, higher than that in July 2022 (42.9). The statistical significance test (t-test) showed that the mean difference between the ratings in September 2022 and July 2022 was statistically significant.

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 September 2022 were 40.9, 47.6 and 43.4 respectively. The comparison of the ratings of the three secretaries between September 2022 and July 2022 indicated that the differences in all three were statistically significant. When the current rating of Paul Chan in September 2022 (47.6) was compared with the respective figure in September 2021 (34.6), the difference was also statistically significant.

Trust in the HKSAR Government. In September 2022, 25.0% of the respondents said they trusted the HKSAR Government and 27.1% expressed distrust; 43.7% answered “in-between”. The results in July 2022 were 24.6%, 28.1% and 40.8% respectively. No statistically significant difference was found in trust in the HKSAR Government between September 2022 and July 2022. However, when comparing the figures with last year, the percentage differences between September 2022 (trust: 25.0%; distrust: 27.1%) and September 2021 (trust: 21.2%; distrust: 44.5%) were statistically significant.

Trust in the Central Government. Regarding the level of trust in the Central Government in September 2022, 22.6% said they trusted it, 35.2% answered the opposite and 32.3% said “in-between”. The respective figures in July 2022 were 22.3%, 32.9% and 30.2%. No statistically significant difference was found between September 2022 and July 2022. However, the difference between the percentage distribution in September 2022 (trust: 22.6%; distrust: 35.2%) and September 2021 (trust: 21.2%; distrust: 47.6%) was statistically significant.

In conclusion, the survey results in September 2022 indicate that the public satisfaction level with the government’s performance, the performance ratings of the Chief Executive and the three secretaries were significantly higher than those in July 2022 (tests show the differences were statistically significant). When compared with the survey conducted in September 2021, all the popularity indices were significantly higher this year (tests also show 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 705 respondents aged 18 or above (landline: 329; mobile: 376) were successfully interviewed, with response rates of 23.2% (landline) and 22.8% (mobile). The sampling error for the sample size of 705 is estimated at plus or minus 3.69 percentage points at a 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.