HKU POP releases findings on people’s feeling towards different governments and peoplessBack

Press Release on December 3, 2013

Abstract

The Public Opinion Programme (POP) at the University of Hong Kong conducted a double stage survey on Hong Kong citizens’ feeling towards different governments and peoples in November, by means of random telephone interviews conducted by real interviewers. The survey shows that in terms of net affinity Hong Kong people feel much more positively about other peoples than their governments. Regarding the four cross-strait societies, the net affinity of Hong Kong people towards fellow Hong Kong people is 58 percentage points higher than that towards the Hong Kong SAR government, that towards Taiwan people is 34 percentage points higher than that towards the Taiwan government, that towards Macau people is 11 percentage points higher than that towards the Macau government, that towards Mainland Chinese people is 4 percentage points higher than that towards the Mainland Chinese government. It should be noted that the net value of Hong Kong people’s affinity towards Mainland Chinese has improved from negative 15 percentage points 6 months ago to negative 5 percentage points this time. As for countries and regions outside the cross-strait regions, Hong Kong people seem to dislike the governments of the Philippines, Japan, the United States and Thailand whereas they seem to like all peoples rather than dislike them, except with the people of the Philippines. These findings are worth studying by various governments. Moreover, compared to 6 months ago, Hong Kong people’s positive feelings towards the governments of Singapore, Canada and Australia, and their negative feelings towards the governments of Japan and the Phlippines, in terms of net values, are all at their new highs since 1997. Among them, their net negative feeling towards the Filippino government has reached 89 percentge points, which warrants attention. As for other reasons affecting the ups and downs of various figures, readers can make their own judgment using detailed records shown in our ‘Opinion Daily’ feature page. It should be noted, however, that our survey only covers regions and countries best known to Hong Kong people. Hong Kong people may well like or dislike other places much more, but because they are not the most well-known places, they do not appear on the list by design. The maximum sampling error of all percentages is between +/-1 and +/-4 percentage points at 95% confidence level while the sampling error of net values need another calculation. The response rate of the second stage opinion survey is 66%.

Points to note:

[1] The address of the “HKU POP SITE” is http://hkupop.pori.hk, journalists can check out the details of the survey there.

[2] The sample size of the first stage naming survey is 1,026 successful interviews, not 1,026 x 68.7% response rate, while the sample size of the second stage rating survey is 1,030 successful interviews, not 1,030 x 66.3% response rate. In the past, many media made this mistake.
[3] “95% confidence level” means 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. When quoting these figures, journalists can state “sampling error of various percentages not more than +/-4% and sampling error of net values not more than +/-6% at 95% confidence level”.
[4] Because of sampling errors in conducting the survey(s) and the rounding procedures in processing the data, the figures cannot be too precise, and the totals may not be completely accurate. Therefore, when quoting percentages of the survey(s), journalists should refrain from reporting decimal places, but when quoting the rating figures, one decimal place can be used.
[5] The data of this survey is collected by means of random telephone interviews conducted by real interviewers, not by any interactive voice system (IVS). If a research organization uses “computerized random telephone survey” to camouflage its IVS operation, it should be considered unprofessional.

Latest Figures

POP today releases on schedule via the "POP SITE" the survey findings on Hong Kong people’s feeling towards different governments and peoples. These surveys on governments are conducted at least once a year since 1997, while the surveys on peoples only began in 2007, this being the thirteenth time. As a general practice, all figures released today have been weighted according to provisional figures obtained from the Census and Statistics Department regarding the gender-age distribution of the Hong Kong population in 2013 mid-year. Herewith the contact information for the latest survey:

Date of survey	Overall sample size	Response rate	Sampling error of percentages ^[6]
14-21/11/2013 (First stage naming survey)	1,026	68.7%	+/-3%
22-28/11/2013 (Second stage opinion survey)	1,030	66.3%	+/-3%

[6] Calculated at 95% confidence level using full sample size. “95% confidence level” means 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. Questions using only sub-samples would have bigger sample error. For this survey, the sub-sample size of all questions has been controlled to no less than 500. Corresponding sampling errors have been reported in the statistical tables.

The research design of our survey on “people’s feeling towards different governments and peoples” has been explained in detail under “Survey Method” in our corresponding web page. For many years, POP have selected 15 regions and countries that are best known to Hong Kong people, and conducted surveys to measure people’s feeling towards the governments of these places. Our primary objective was to map Hong Kong people’s cosmopolitan view over time. In 2007, we improved our research design. Our mid-2007 survey was divided into two stages, namely, a naming survey and an opinion survey. In the 2007 year-end survey, we further added the people module to the survey. In specific terms, in our naming survey, other than Hong Kong, Mainland China, Taiwan and Macau, respondents can name, unaided, up to ten regions or countries which they know best. The four cross-strait regions together with 12 other regions and countries most frequently mentioned in the naming stage were then shortlisted into the second stage, with their governments and peoples rated by respondents as “very positive”, “quite positive”, “half-half”, “quite negative” or “very negative”. In our first stage survey conducted on November 14 to 21, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Japan and Australia were mentioned most frequently. Please refer to the relevant table in our website for the rest of the list. Our second stage survey was conducted on November 22 to 28. The following table summarizes the findings of Hong Kong people’s feeling towards the governments and peoples of the four cross-strait regions.

Date of survey		23-30/5/12	16-20/11/12	25-27/5/13	22-28/11/13
Sample base		1,052	1,024	1,031	1,030
Overall response rate		67.3%	65.9%	67.3%	66.3%
Feeling towards different governments / peoples ^[8]		Finding	Finding	Finding	Base^[9]	Finding and error ^[7]	Latest change^[10]	Net difference with gov’ts / peoples
Hong Kong	People Positive	51%	44%^[11]	46%	633	56+/-4%	+10%^[11]	+58%
	People Negative	8%	8%	9%	633	11+/-3%	+2%
	Net value	43%	36%^[11]	37%	--	45+/-5%	+8%^[11]
	Government Positive	23%^[11]	27%	19%^[11]	633	27+/-4%	+8%^[11]	-58%
	Government Negative	36%^[11]	23%^[11]	35%^[11]	633	40+/-4%	+5%^[11]
	Net value	-13%	4%^[11]	-16%^[11]	--	-13+/-6%	+3%
Mainland	People Positive	28%^[11]	27%	21%^[11]	620	27+/-4%	+6%^[11]	+4%
	People Negative	29%	26%	36%^[11]	620	32+/-4%	-4%
	Net value	-1%	1%	-15%^[11]	--	-5+/-6%	+10%^[11]
	Government Positive	28%^[11]	29%	20%^[11]	620	28+/-4%	+8%^[11]	-4%
	Government Negative	32%	25%^[11]	37%^[11]	620	37+/-4%	--
	Net value	-4%	4%^[11]	-17%^[11]	--	-9+/-6%	+8%^[11]
Taiwan	People Positive	57%^[11]	51%^[11]	57%^[11]	627	60+/-4%	+3%	+34%
	People Negative	5%	2%^[11]	3%^[11]	627	4+/-2%	+1%
	Net value	52%	49%	54%	--	56+/-5%	+2%
	Government Positive	38%^[11]	31%^[11]	35%	627	37+/-4%	+2%	-34%
	Government Negative	11%^[11]	8%^[11]	8%	627	15+/-3%	+7%^[11]
	Net value	27%	23%	27%	--	22+/-5%	-5%
Macau	People Positive	52%^[11]	48%	48%	611	57+/-4%	+9%^[11]	+11%
	People Negative	2%	1%	1%	611	3+/-1%	+2%^[11]
	Net value	50%	47%	47%	--	54+/-5%	+7%^[11]
	Government Positive	51%^[11]	51%	45%^[11]	611	52+/-4%	+7%^[11]	-11%
	Government Negative	10%	7%^[11]	7%	611	9+/-2%	+2%
	Net value	41%	44%	38%^[11]	--	43+/-5%	+5%

[7] All error figures in the table are calculated at 95% confidence level. "95% confidence level" means 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. Media can state "sampling error of percentages not more than +/-4% and sampling error of net values not more than +/-6% at 95% confidence level" when quoting the above figures. The error margin of previous survey can be found at the POP Site.
[8] Collapsed from a 5-point scale.
[9] The sample size for each question varies, but has been controlled to no less than 500. Corresponding sampling errors have all been given.
[10] Comparison made with survey findings of 25-27/5/13.
[11] Such changes have gone beyond the sampling errors at the 95% confidence level, meaning that they are statistically significant prima facie. However, whether numerical differences are statistically significant or not is not the same as whether they are practically useful or meaningful.

Herewith the findings of Hong Kong people’s feelings towards the governments and peoples of 12 regions and countries other than the four cross-strait regions. They are ranked according to the net values of Hong Kong people's feelings towards their people, in descending order:

Date of survey		23-30/5/12	16-20/11/12	25-27/5/13	22-28/11/13
Sample base		1,052	1,024	1,031	1,030
Overall response rate		67.3%	65.9%	67.3%	66.3%
Feeling towards different governments / peoples ^{^[13]}		Finding	Finding	Finding	Base^[14]	Finding and error^[12]	Latest change^[15]	Net difference with gov’ts / peoples
Singapore	People Positive	61%^[16]	58%	62%	623	71+/-4%	+9%^[16]	+4%
	People Negative	4%	1%^[16]	3%^[16]	623	2+/-1%	-1%
	Net value	57%	57%	59%	--	70+/-4%	+11%^[16]
	Government Positive	59%	58%	59%	623	70+/-4%	+11%^[16]	-4%
	Government Negative	7%	6%	7%	623	4+/-2%	-3%^[16]
	Net value	52%	52%	52%	--	66+/-4%	+14%^[16]
Canada	People Positive	52%^[16]	49%	51%	639	60+/-4%	+9%^[16]	+5%
	People Negative	2%	1%	2%	639	1+/-1%	-1%
	Net value	50%	48%	49%	--	59+/-4%	+10%^[16]
	Government Positive	48%	49%	51%	639	55+/-4%	+4%	-5%
	Government Negative	3%	1%^[16]	2%	639	2+/-1%	--
	Net value	45%	48%	49%	--	54+/-4%	+5%^[16]
Australia	People Positive	50%^[16]	47%	49%	623	58+/-4%	+9%^[16]	+12%
	People Negative	2%	2%	3%	623	1+/-1%	-2%^[16]
	Net value	48%	45%	46%	--	57+/-4%	+11%^[16]
	Government Positive	42%^[16]	41%	46%^[16]	623	48+/-4%	+2%	-12%
	Government Negative	4%	2%^[16]	3%	623	3+/-1%	--
	Net value	38%	39%	43%	--	45+/-4%	+2%
United Kingdom	People Positive	45%	41%	44%	662	54+/-4%	+10%^[16]	+10%
	People Negative	5%	4%	4%	662	4+/-2%	--
	Net value	40%	37%	40%	--	49+/-5%	+9%^[16]
	Government Positive	44%^[16]	39%^[16]	41%	662	50+/-4%	+9%^[16]	-10%
	Government Negative	9%	6%^[16]	9%^[16]	662	10+/-2%	+1%
	Net value	35%	33%	32%	--	40+/-5%	+8%^[16]
South Korea	People Positive	49%^[16]	39%^[16]	45%^[16]	600	52+/-4%	+7%^[16]	+5%
	People Negative	7%	7%	7%	600	7+/-2%	--
	Net value	42%	32%^[16]	38%^[16]	--	45+/-5%	+7%^[16]
	Government Positive	35%	32%	40%^[16]	600	47+/-4%	+7%^[16]	-5%
	Government Negative	14%	10%^[16]	10%	600	7+/-2%	-3%^[16]
	Net value	21%	22%	30%^[16]	--	39+/-5%	+9%^[16]
Germany	People Positive	39%^[16]	33%^[16]	39%^[16]	654	43+/-4%	+4%	+2%
	People Negative	4%	2%^[16]	3%	654	3+/-1%	--
	Net value	35%	31%	36%^[16]	--	41+/-4%	+5%^[16]
	Government Positive	36%^[16]	31%^[16]	34%	654	42+/-4%	+8%^[16]	-2%
	Government Negative	8%	3%^[16]	5%	654	3+/-1%	-2%^[16]
	Net value	28%	28%	29%	--	39+/-4%	+10%^[16]
USA	People Positive	38%	35%	33%	618	47+/-4%	+14%^[16]	+48%
	People Negative	12%	11%	12%	618	11+/-3%	-1%
	Net value	26%	24%	21%	--	36+/-5%	+15%^[16]
	Government Positive	20%	23%	21%	618	24+/-3%	+3%	-48%
	Government Negative	37%	32%^[16]	32%	618	36+/-4%	+4%
	Net value	-17%	-9%^[16]	-11%	--	-12+/-6%	-1%
Japan	People Positive	57%	42%^[16]	43%	594	49+/-4%	+6%^[16]	+85%
	People Negative	8%	13%^[16]	15%	594	15+/-3%	--
	Net value	49%	29%^[16]	28%	--	34+/-6%	+6%
	Government Positive	21%^[16]	11%^[16]	11%	594	12+/-3%	+1%	-85%
	Government Negative	41%^[16]	56%^[16]	59%	594	63+/-4%	+4%
	Net value	-20%	-45%^[16]	-48%	--	-51+/-6%	-3%
France	People Positive	32%^[16]	26%^[16]	27%	689	33+/-4%	+6%^[16]	+11%
	People Negative	10%	6%^[16]	7%	689	7+/-2%	--
	Net value	22%	20%	20%	--	26+/-4%^[17]	+6%^[16]
	Government Positive	18%^[16]	16%	18%	689	24+/-3%	+6%^[16]	-11%
	Government Negative	19%	8%^[16]	9%	689	9+/-2%	--
	Net value	-1%	8%^[16]	9%	--	15+/-4%	+6%^[16]
Thailand	People Positive	41%	39%	35%	633	38+/-4%	+3%	+37%
	People Negative	11%	8%^[16]	9%	633	12+/-3%	+3%
	Net value	30%	31%	26%	--	26+/-4%^[17]	--
	Government Positive	24%^[16]	23%	19%^[16]	633	20+/-3%	+1%	-37%
	Government Negative	30%	19%^[16]	24%^[16]	633	32+/-4%	+8%^[16]
	Net value	-6%	4%^[16]	-5%^[16]	--	-11+/-6%	-6%
Italy	People Positive	24%	22%	26%^[16]	618	30+/-4%	+4%	+15%
	People Negative	8%	6%	7%	618	6+/-2%	-1%
	Net value	16%	16%	19%	--	24+/-4%	+5%^[16]
	Government Positive	17%^[16]	14%	18%^[16]	618	20+/-3%	+2%	-15%
	Government Negative	14%^[16]	13%	11%	618	10+/-2%	-1%
	Net value	3%	1%	7%^[16]	--	9+/-4%	+2%
The Philippines	People Positive	17%	15%	11%^[16]	678	21+/-3%	+10%^[16]	+78%
	People Negative	38%	29%^[16]	41%^[16]	678	32+/-4%	-9%^[16]
	Net value	-21%	-14%^[16]	-30%^[16]	--	-11+/-5%	+19%^[16]
	Government Positive	3%	2%	1%	678	1+/-1%	--	-78%
	Government Negative	83%^[16]	76%^[16]	87%^[16]	678	90+/-2%	+3%^[16]
	Net value	-80%	-74%^[16]	-86%^[16]	--	-89+/-3%	-3%

[12] All error figures in the table are calculated at 95% confidence level. "95% confidence level" means 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. Media can state "sampling error of percentages not more than +/-4% and sampling error of net values not more than +/-6% at 95% confidence level" when quoting the above figures. The error margin of previous survey can be found at the POP Site.
[13] Collapsed from a 5-point scale.
[14] The sample size for each question varies, but has been controlled to no less than 500. Corresponding sampling errors have all been given.
[15] Comparison made with survey findings of 25-27/5/13.
[16] Such changes have gone beyond the sampling errors at the 95% confidence level, meaning that they are statistically significant prima facie. However, whether numerical differences are statistically significant or not is not the same as whether they are practically useful or meaningful.
[17] In one decimal place, the respective net values of people’s feeling towards the people of France and Thailand are positive 26.1 and 25.8 percentage points. Thus, they are ranked ninth and tenth respectively..

Our latest findings showed that, as regards the results of people’s feeling towards different peoples, 56% felt positive towards Hong Kong people themselves while the net value is positive 45 percentage points. For the other cross-strait regions, the corresponding positive figures for the Mainland, Taiwan and Macau peoples were 27%, 60% and 57% while their net values are negative 5, positive 56 and 54 percentage points respectively. As for the feelings on peoples of other regions and countries, the net values for Singapore, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, South Korea and Germany were highest, with positive 70, 59, 57, 49, 45 and 41 percentage points respectively, while those for the United States, Japan, Thailand, France and Italy were positive 36, 34, 26, 26 and 24 percentage points correspondingly. Lastly, the net value of feeling towards the people of the Philippines is negative 11 percentage points only.

Regarding the results of people’s feeling towards different governments, 27% felt positive towards the HKSAR government while the net value is negative 13 percentage points. For the other cross-strait governments, the corresponding positive figures for the Mainland, Taiwan and Macau governments were 28%, 37% and 52% while their net values are negative 9, positive 22 and 43 percentage points respectively. As for the feelings on other governments, the net values for Singapore and Canada were the highest, with positive 66 and 54 percentage points correspondingly, while those for Australia, the United Kingdom, South Korea, Germany, France and Italy were positive 45, 40, 39, 39, 15 and 9 percentage points correspondingly, those for Thailand, the United States and Japan were negative 11, 12 and 51 percentage points correspondingly. Lastly, the net value of feeling towards the Filippino government is negative 89 percentage points.

Opinion Daily

In January 2007, POP opened a feature page called "Opinion Daily" at the "POP Site", to record significant events and selected polling figures on a day-to-day basis, in order to let readers judge by themselves the reasons for the ups and downs of different opinion figures. In July 2007, POP collaborated with Wisers Information Limited whereby Wisers supplies to POP each day starting from July 24, a record of significant events of that day, according to the research method designed by POP. These daily entries would be uploaded to "Opinion Daily" as soon as they are verified by POP.

For the polling items covered in this press release, the previous survey was conducted from May 25 to 27, 2013 while this survey was conducted from November 22 to 28 2013. During this period, herewith the significant events selected from counting newspaper headlines and commentaries on a daily basis and covered by at least 25% of the local newspaper articles. Readers can make their own judgment if these significant events have any impacts to different polling figures.

22/11/13	Li Fei, deputy secretary general of the National People's Congress Standing Committee, expresses his views on basic requirements of the Chief Executive election by universal suffrage.
12/11/13	The Third Plenary Session of the 18th Communist Party of China Central Committee ends.
7/11/13	Legislative Council veto the use of the Privilege act to investigate the government’s decision on issuing free television licenses.
6/11/13	Thousands of people demonstrate outside the Government Headquarters to protest against its decision on issuing free television licences.
17/10/13	Leung Chun-ying announces that public consultation on political reform will begin by year-end.
15/10/13	Government issues two new free television licenses; Wong Wai-kay's application is rejected.
11/10/13	Leung Chun Ying clarifies that the governement did not put Manila bus hostage crisis behind.
10/10/13	Li Keqiang urges Aquino to settle Manila bus hostage crisis as soon as possible.
8/10/13	Aquino refuses to apologize on Manila bus hostage crisis.
19/8/13	Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announces plans to expand the airport and housing policy reform.
7/7/13	Two Chinese are killed in plane crash at San Francisco.
23/6/13	Snowden flees to Moscow.
15/6/13	US enterprises help the US governemnt to gather users' data.
10/6/13	Snowden, whistle-blower of US massive surveillance programme flees to Hong Kong.
8/6/13	China and US build new type of power relationship.

Commentary

Note: The following commentary was written by Director of POP Robert Chung.

Our latest survey shows that in terms of net affinity Hong Kong people feel much more positively about other peoples than their governments. Regarding the four cross-strait societies, the net affinity of Hong Kong people towards fellow Hong Kong people is 58 percentage points higher than that towards the Hong Kong SAR government, that towards Taiwan people is 34 percentage points higher than that towards the Taiwan government, that towards Macau people is 11 percentage points higher than that towards the Macau government, that towards Mainland Chinese people is 4 percentage points higher than that towards the Mainland Chinese government. It should be noted that the net value of Hong Kong people’s affinity towards Mainland Chinese has improved from negative 15 percentage points 6 months ago to negative 5 percentage points this time.

As for countries and regions outside the cross-strait regions, Hong Kong people seem to dislike the governments of the Philippines, Japan, the United States and Thailand whereas they seem to like all peoples rather than dislike them, except with the people of the Philippines. These findings are worth studying by various governments.

Moreover, compared to 6 months ago, Hong Kong people’s positive feelings towards the governments of Singapore, Canada and Australia, and their negative feelings towards the governments of Japan and the Phlippines, in terms of net values, are all at their new highs since 1997. Among them, their net negative feeling towards the Filippino government has reached 89 percentge points, which warrants attention. As for other reasons affecting the ups and downs of various figures, readers can make their own judgment using detailed records shown in our ‘Opinion Daily’ feature page. It should be noted, however, that our survey only covers regions and countries best known to Hong Kong people. Hong Kong people may well like or dislike other places much more, but because they are not the most well-known places, they do not appear on the list by design.

Future Releases (Tentative)

December 5, 2013 (Thursday) 1pm to 2pm: Popularity of disciplinary forces
December 10, 2013 (Tuesday) 1pm to 2pm: Popularity of CE and Principal Officials