HKU POP SITE releases the latest ratings of CE Tung Chee-hwa and the Principal Officials under the accountability systemBack

The Public Opinion Programme (POP) at the University of Hong Kong today releases on schedule via the "HKU POP SITE" (http://hkupop.pori.hk) the latest ratings of CE Tung Chee-hwa and the Principal Officials under the accountability system. POP's normal practice is to release the results of our regular surveys every Tuesday at 2 pm via our POP Site, except during public holidays, each time with a forecast of the items to be released in the forthcoming week. We will review and adjust this operation regularly.

The date of our next release will be June 12, 2003, Thursday, exact time to be confirmed. The findings of a series of questions on people's appraisal of CE Tung Chee-hwa's performance will be released, together with a bilingual article written by Robert Ting-Yiu Chung, Director of the Public Opinion Programme, discussing the results. Then, on June 17, 2003, Tuesday, we will release the results of another series of questions on people's appraisal of the performance of the Principal Officials under the accountability system, as well as another article, exact time of the release to be confirmed.

Between June 3 and 6, 2003, POP conducted a random telephone survey which successfully interviewed 1,027 Cantonese speakers in Hong Kong of age 18 or above. Results showed that the latest rating of CE Tung Chee-hwa was 45.7 marks, representing a further increase of 1.5 marks from that of mid-May. Meanwhile, the latest ratings of CS Donald Tsang Yam-kuen and FS Antony Leung Kam-chung were 63.6 and 42.8 marks respectively. When compared to the results obtained in early May, the former has increased by 1.3 marks, whereas no significant change was observed for the latter. On the other hand, the popularity rating of SJ Elsie Leung Oi-sie was 49.0 marks, indicating a significant increase of 1.7 marks from that of early May.

With respect to the popularity ranking of Directors of Bureaux, the latest findings obtained in early June revealed that the most popular official remained to be Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works Sarah Liao Sau-tung, attaining 60.9 marks, and leading with quite a wide margin from the rest. Secretary for Education and Manpower Arthur Li Kwok-cheung, Secretary for Economic Development and Labour Stephen Ip Shu-kwan and Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology Henry Tang Ying-yen ranked from 2nd to 4th, with popularity ratings of 56.3, 55.5 and 55.1 marks correspondingly. The 5th to the 7th ranks fell to Secretary for Security Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee, Secretary for Housing, Planning and Lands Michael Suen Ming-yeung and Secretary for Home Affairs Patrick Ho Chi-ping, attaining 53.0, 51.9 and 51.6 marks correspondingly. Secretary for the Civil Service Joseph Wong Wing-ping and Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food Yeoh Eng-kiong ranked 8th and 9th, with popularity ratings of 49.6 and 46.6 marks respectively. Secretary for Constitutional Affairs Stephen Lam Sui-lung and Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Frederick Ma Si-hang ranked 10th and 11th, attaining 43.8 and 40.9 marks respectively.

Robert Ting-Yiu Chung, Director of Public Opinion Programme, made the following analysis: "The rating of CE Tung Chee-hwa has climbed back to the 45-mark level, more or less to that registered in early February. This shows that the impact on CE's popularity caused by FS Antony Leung Kam-chung's car purchase incident and the SARS outbreak has come to an end. As for the ratings of the Secretaries and Directors of Bureaux, half went up, half went down. CS Donald Tsang Yam-kuen, who topped the list, had his rating increased again, showing that his performance in restoring the city after the epidemic has won people's support. On the other front, Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Frederick Ma Si-hang, Secretary for Constitutional Affairs Stephen Lam Sui-lung and Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food Yeoh Eng-kiong, all suffered drops at the lower end, probably reflecting people's reactions to their recent performances and the remarks they made."

The new poll released in the POP Site today is a random telephone survey conducted by interviewers, targeting at Cantonese speakers in Hong Kong of age 18 or above. The sample size of the survey is 1,027 respondents. At 95% confidence level, the sampling errors of the latest ratings of CE, CS, FS and SJ are plus/minus 1.4, 1.0, 1.4 and 1.4 marks correspondingly, while those of the ratings of Directors of Bureaux are less than plus/minus 1.8 marks. The meaning of "95% confidence level" is that if we were to repeat a certain survey 100 times, using the same questions each time but with different random samples, we would expect 95 times getting a figure within the error margins specified. Shall anyone have any question regarding the research design of the surveys published in the POP Site, members of the POP Team will be happy to answer them, but we will not further comment on the findings. Shall any person or journalist have any other questions, please email them to us at <[email protected]>. The Director of Public Opinion Programme would answer them as soon as possible. We will keep such an arrangement under constant review, suggestions most welcome. Please note that everything carried in the POP Site does not represent the stand of the University of Hong Kong. Dr Robert Ting-Yiu Chung, Director of Public Opinion Programme, is responsible for everything posted herewith, except for column articles which represent the stand of their authors.