[an error occurred while processing the directive] 香港大學民意研究計劃 Public Opinion Programme, The University of Hong Kong

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Press Release on May 21 , 2002
 

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 figures on the popularity rating of CE Tung Chee-hwa, people's satisfaction with the HKSAR Government, its Secretaries, and members of the Legislative and Executive Councils in general, as well as the results of the four subjective indicators on Hong Kong's freedom of "speech", "press", "publication", and "procession and demonstration". Our current 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 next two weeks. The POP Site will review and adjust this operation regularly.

 

According to this schedule, the date and time of our next release will be May 28, 2002, at 2 pm, the latest popularity ratings of CE Tung Chee-hwa, CS Donald Tsang Yam-kuen, FS Antony Leung Kam-chung and the top ten Legislative Councilors will be released. Then, on June 4, 2002, we will release earlier than usual at 10 am, the latest results on people's satisfaction with the freedom of press in Hong Kong, their appraisal of the credibility of the news media in Hong Kong, as well as our annual survey on the June Fourth Incident.

 

According to the latest figures released today, CE Tung Chee-hwa's rating registered in early May (May 2-7) was 53.8, which was almost the same as that of mid-April, though 0.3 marks lower. Regarding people's appraisal of the HKSAR Government's performance in early May (May 2-7), 27% of the respondents were satisfied, 38% were not, 30% said "half-half", while 5% did not give a definite answer. Compared to the results of early April, the satisfaction figure has slightly increased by one percentage point while the dissatisfaction figure has also slightly increased by two percentage points. Both changes were not significant statistically.

 

Regarding the general performance of the Legislative Councillors, our latest findings (May 2-7) showed that 21% were satisfied, 23% were dissatisfied, 35% remained neutral, while 22% did not give any definite answer. When compared to the results obtained in early March, the satisfaction figure decreased slightly by one percentage point, while the dissatisfaction figure dropped significantly by five percentage points.

 

Concerning people's satisfaction with the overall performance of the three government Secretaries, an increase in satisfaction rate was recorded for three consecutive times. Compared with the results obtained in early March before FS Antony Leung Kam-chung delivered his Budget Speech, the satisfaction figure increased significantly by seven percentage points, while the dissatisfaction figure dropped even more significantly by twelve percentage points. Our latest findings (May 2-7) revealed that 31% were satisfied, 23% not, while 32% said "half-half". Because the last survey was conducted before FS Antony Leung delivered his Budget Speech and CE Tung Chee-hwa announced the contents of the accountability system for principal officials, the changes between the figures registered in the last two surveys might have been due to the combined effect of these two events. As to the overall performance of the Executive Councillors, our latest figures in early May (May 2-7) showed that 18% were satisfied with their performance, 26% not, 33% answered "half-half", while 23% did not give any definite answer. Compared to that of early March, the satisfaction rate has remained unchanged, while the dissatisfaction rate dropped significantly by six percentage points.

 

Regarding the four subjective freedom indicators, our latest figures (April 15-17) revealed that, on a scale from 0-10, the freedom indicators on "speech", "press" and "publication" all got 7.5 marks, while the corresponding figure for "procession and demonstration" was 7.0 marks. Compared with the results obtained in early January, all ratings have dropped, with "speech" by 0.2 marks, "press" and "publication" both by 0.1 mark, while "procession and demonstration" by an insignificant amount. However, because the latest survey was conducted before the police cleared the protestors in the Chater Garden and home-arrested demonstrators like Leung Kwok Hung, the effects of these incidents have yet to be seen.

 

All new surveys reported in the POP Site today are random telephone surveys conducted by interviewers, targeting at Cantonese speakers in Hong Kong of age 18 or above. The sample size of all surveys is over 1,000 respondents. At 95% confidence level, the sampling error of the CE rating was less than plus/minus 1.3 marks, that of the four freedom indicators was less than plus/minus 0.12 marks, while that of all percentages was less than plus/minus three percentage points. That means 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 comment on the findings at this stage. Such an arrangement would be reviewed when more resources are available. Please note that Dr CHUNG Ting-yiu Robert, Director of Public Opinion Programme, is solely responsible for the work published in the POP Site, which does not represent the stand of the University of Hong Kong.