HKU POP SITE releases the latest popularity ratings of the top ten Legislative Councillors, and the latest findings on people's appraisal of press freedom and media performanceBack

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 popularity ratings of the top 10 Legislative Councillors, and the latest findings on people's appraisal of press freedom and media performance. Ratings of the top 10 Legislative Councillors obtained since February this year are summarized as follows:

* "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
** Ratings with recognition rates not reaching top 10 in either stage of survey are not available
[ ] Number in square brackets indicates rankings

Results obtained in early August showed that Audrey Eu, Rita Fan and James Tien were the 3 most popular councillors, attaining 65.2, 64.5 and 61.0 marks correspondingly. Selina Chow and Lee Cheuk-yan ranked 4th and 5th, with support ratings of 60.4 and 57.2 marks respectively. The 6th to 10th ranks fell to Martin Lee, Szeto Wah, Andrew Wong, Emily Lau and Jasper Tsang correspondingly. The mean score obtained by the top 5 councillors was 61.7 marks, while that for the top 10 was 56.6 marks, indicating respective increases of 5.4 and 3.3 marks from those of early May.

Besides, people's satisfaction with Hong Kong's press freedom and their appraisal of the credibility of the local news media in general were also gauged in this survey. Relevant findings obtained since February this year are summarized as follows:

* "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
** Collapsed from 5-point scales

Results showed that, 66% of the respondents were satisfied with the press freedom in Hong Kong, whereas 11% were dissatisfied. As for the credibility rating of the Hong Kong news media in general, on a scale of 0-10, the latest figure registered was 6.10 marks.

Robert Ting-Yiu Chung, Director of Public Opinion Programme, made the following analysis: "The latest popularity ranking of the top 10 Legislative Councillors reflects a change in Hong Kong's political ecology after the July 1 Demonstration. Never appeared on the list before, Audrey Eu suddenly leapt to the top this time. Jame Tien, who ranked 7th last time, picked up 9 marks and moved to the 3rd place. Lau Chin-shek and Chan Yuen-han, who topped the listmany times before, failed to enter the list this time because of their relatively lower recognition rates. LegCo members representing labour interests are now overshadowed by those who carry the demands of the July 1 Demonstration. On the other front, people's satisfaction with the degree of press freedom has gone back to the level registered before Antony Leung's car purchase incident and the SARS outbreak, while the credibility rating of the news media has remained high."

The research design of our "Top 10 Legislative Councillors" has been explained in detail under "Survey Method" in our corresponding web page. The top councillors listed in our latest survey were all those who obtained the highest unprompted mentions in our first stage naming survey conducted in mid-July (July 14-16). In that survey, respondents could name, unaided, up to 10 legislators whom they knew best. Martin Lee, Jasper Tsang, Emily Lau, Szeto Wah and Lee Cheuk-yan were mentioned most frequently. Please refer to the relevant table for the rest of the list. Those 14 who were named most frequently then entered into the second stage rating survey. Our normal procedure is to enter 12 names into the second round, we increased the quota to 14 this time because there were 3 ties for the 12th place.

During the second stage rating survey conducted in mid-August, respondents were asked to rate each legislator in turn using a 0-100 scale. 0 indicates absolutely no support, 100 indicates absolute support, and 50 means half-half. After calculation, the bottom 4 legislators in terms of recognition rate were dropped, leaving behind the top 10. For easy reference, the POP Site has already displayed the results of all naming surveys conducted since the year 1998.

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. According to this schedule, the date and time of our next release will be August 26, 2003, Tuesday, at 2 pm, the latest figures on the popularity of CE Tung Chee-hwa and people's appraisal of the performance of the HKSAR Government will be released.

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.