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Survey Findings on the HKSAR Government’s Popularity in January 2017Released by Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies at CUHK
A telephone survey was conducted from 19 to 23 January 2017 by Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies, The Chinese University of Hong Kong to study the popularity of the HKSAR Government for the month of January 2017. 733 respondents aged 18 or above were successfully interviewed, with a response rate of 39.2%. The sampling error is + or – 3.62 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.
Major findings are summarized as follows:
Satisfaction towards the HKSAR Government. According to the current survey, 38.6% of the 733 respondents expressed dissatisfaction towards the HKSAR Government, 22.0% said they were satisfied and 38.1% answered ‘in-between’. The corresponding figures in December 2016 were 40.2%, 20.3%, and 37.8%. Results of January 2017 were not significantly different from those of the past month statistically.
Rating of Chief Executive LEUNG Chun-ying. The current survey showed that the performance rating of Chief Executive (with a point scale ranging from 0 to 100 while 50 as a passing mark) stood at 43.1 in average and it was 41.3 last month, but the difference between December 2016 and January 2017 was found to have no statistical significance.
Ratings of Three Secretaries. Carrie LAM (Chief Secretary for Administration) and John TSANG (Financial Secretary) had tendered their resignations and the Central Government had approved. But the current survey continued following their popularity ratings. The ratings of Carrie LAM, John TSANG, and Rimsky YUEN (Secretary for Justice) in January 2017 were 54.2, 59.0, and 44.0 respectively. The corresponding figures in December 2016 were 53.3, 57.7, and 44.5 respectively. No statistically significant differences were observed in the ratings of the three secretaries between December 2016 and January 2017.
Support for New Secretaries. Matthew Cheung (Secretary for Labour and Welfare) and Paul Chan (Secretary for Development) were appointed as Chief Secretary and Financial Secretary after the Central Government approved the resignations of Carrie Lam and John Tsang. In regard to the degree of support, Matthew CHEUNG as the new Chief Secretary for Administration and Paul CHAN as the new Financial Secretary were rated 54.0 and 34.9 respectively (with a point scale ranging from 0 to 100).
Trust in the HKSAR and the Central Governments. In January 2017, 26.3% of the respondents showed trust in the HKSAR Government and 28.8% expressed distrust; 43.4% answered ‘in-between’. The results of December 2016 were 24.8%, 29.8%, and 42.2% respectively. There was no statistically significant difference in trust in the HKSAR Government between December 2016 and January 2017. Concerning the level of trust in the Central Government in January 2017, while 24.7% said they trusted the Central Government, 33.8% answered the opposite; 36.2% said ‘in-between’. The respective figures in the previous month were 24.0%, 33.1%, and 36.3%. The difference between December 2016 and January 2017 was also found to be statistically insignificant.
Satisfaction with and rating of the 2017 Policy Address. While 31.4% showed dissatisfaction towards the new Policy Address, 28.1% of them found it satisfactory. 33.6% answered “in-between”. When compared to the previous survey results on the 2016 policy address, the number of dissatisfied people for this year decreased by 11.3 percentage points while the number of satisfied people increased by 12 percentage points. In addition, the overall rating of the 2017 Policy Address (with a point scale ranging from 0 to 100 while 50 as a passing mark) was 48.8, statistically significantly higher than that of the 2016 policy address (41.4).
