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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 February to 19 March 2024 to study the popularity of the Hong Kong government. The major findings are:

Satisfaction with the Hong Kong government. In the survey of March 2024, 16.9% of respondents expressed satisfaction with the Hong Kong government, 43.5% said they were dissatisfied and 37.7% answered “in-between”. The corresponding figures for the last survey (September 2023) were 25.2%, 33.6% and 39.7% respectively. The statistical analysis (chi-square test) shows a statistically significant difference between the results for March 2024 and those for September 2023. When comparing the March 2024 figures (satisfied: 16.9%; dissatisfied: 43.5%) with those from the same period last year (March 2023, satisfied: 26.0%; dissatisfied: 25.9%), the differences in percentage distribution were also statistically significant.

Rating of Chief Executive John Lee. In the March 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 44.6 on average, lower than that in September 2023 (47.9), with a mean difference that was statistically significant. There was also a statistically significant difference between March 2024 (44.6) and March 2023 (50.8). 

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 2024 were 41.4, 44.5 and 41.1 respectively. When comparing the March 2024 figures with those from September 2023 (Chief Secretary for Administration: 44.0; Financial Secretary: 48.9; Secretary for Justice: 42.2), a statistically significant difference was found for the Financial Secretary, while the differences in the average ratings of the other two secretaries were statistically insignificant. The rating of the Financial Secretary in March 2024 (44.5) was also statistically significantly lower than the respective figure in March 2023 (51.1).

Trust in the Hong Kong government. In March 2024, 22.5% of the respondents said they trusted the Hong Kong government and 34.4% expressed distrust; 40.7% answered “in-between”. The corresponding figures for September 2023 were 28.2%, 34.0% and 36.4% respectively. A statistically significant difference was found between March 2024 and September 2023. Also, the percentage differences between March 2024 (trust: 22.5%; distrust: 34.4%) and March 2023 (trust: 29.3%; distrust: 22.5%) were statistically significant.

Trust in the Central Government. Regarding the level of trust in the Central Government in March 2024, 30.1% said they trusted it, 30.7% answered the opposite and 34.8% said “in-between”. The respective figures in September 2023 were 29.8%, 33.5% and 34.7%. There was no statistically significant difference between March 2024 and September 2023. However, the difference between the percentage distribution in March 2024 (trust: 30.1%; distrust: 30.7%) and March 2023 (trust: 25.5%; distrust: 30.2%) was statistically significant.

Satisfaction with the 2024-25 Budget. In the March 2024 survey, 13.2% of respondents expressed satisfaction with the 2024-25 Budget, 42.1% said they were dissatisfied and 38.6% answered “in-between”.

In conclusion, the survey results in March 2024 indicate that the performance ratings of the Chief Secretary for Administration and Secretary for Justice, and the trust in the Central Government were not significantly different from those in September 2023 (the significance test shows the differences were not statistically significant). However, the public satisfaction level with the Hong Kong government’s performance, the performance ratings of the Chief Executive and the Financial Secretary, and the level of trust in the Hong Kong government in March 2024 were significantly different from those in September 2023 (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 701 respondents aged 18 or above (landline: 160; mobile: 541) were successfully interviewed, with response rates of 40.9% (landline) and 45.2% (mobile). The sampling error for the sample size of 701 is estimated at plus or minus 3.70 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.