HKU POP SITE releases the latest ratings of the top 10 political figures in Mainland China and TaiwanBack

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 the top 10 political figures in Mainland China and Taiwan. Figures obtained in the last three surveys 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.
** Not among top 10.
[ ] Number in square brackets indicates rankings.

Results showed that, regarding the latest popularity ranking of political figures in Mainland China and Taiwan obtained in mid-September, Zhu Rongji has remained to be the most popular figure, attaining 75.0 marks, leading with quite a wide margin from the rest. Both appeared on the top-10 list for the first time, Wen Jiabao and Wu Yi followed behind, with 70.8 and 69.8 marks respectively. Hu Jintao and Jiang Zemin ranked 4th and 5th, scoring 67.3 and 65.7 marks. The 6th to 10th ranks fell to Ma Ying-jeou, James Soong, Li Peng, Chen Shui-bian and Lee Teng-hui correspondingly. The mean score obtained by the top 5 political figures was 69.7 marks, and that for the top 10 was 57.1 marks.

Robert Ting-Yiu Chung, Director of Public Opinion Programme, made the following analysis: "Even though Zhu Rongji is no longer the Chinese Premier, Hong Kong people still pay great respect to him. He scored almost 10 marks higher than Jiang Zemin, who still holds his title as Chairman of the Central Military Commission. The new Premier Wen Jiabao appeared first time on the list, with a high score of 70.8 marks. This must have been due to his impressive performance during his recent visit to Hong Kong. Among the list of top 10, the ratio of Mainland versus Taiwan leaders has reversed from 4:6 last time to 6:4, indicating Hong Kong people's growing interest in Mainland affairs. In terms of popularity, other than Li Peng, all Mainland leaders have enjoyed popularity ratings much higher than that of Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa, pulling Hong Kong people closer to the Central Government. As for the Taiwan leaders on the list, Ma Ying-jeou was obviously the most popular. Lee Teng-hui, however, has set a record low with less than 30 marks."

The research design of our "Top 10 political figures of Mainland China and Taiwan" has been explained in detail under "Survey Method" in our corresponding web site. The top political figures listed in our latest survey were all those who obtained highest unprompted mentions in our first stage naming survey conducted in early September. In that survey, respondents could name, unaided, up to 10 political figures whom they knew best. Chen Shui-bian, Hu Jintao, Jiang Zemin, Wen Jiabao, Lee Teng-hui and so on were mentioned most frequently. Please refer to the relevant table for the rest of the list. The 12 most frequently mentioned political figures were then entered into the second stage of the survey conducted in mid-September, during which respondents were asked to rate each political figure 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 2 political figures in terms of recognition rate were dropped; the remaining 10 were then ranked according to their support ratings attained to become the top 10 political figures. For easy reference, the POP Site has already displayed the results of all naming surveys conducted since June 1997.

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 October 7, 2003, Tuesday, at 2 pm, the latest figures on the popularity of CE Tung Chee-hwa, Principal Officials under the accountability system and members of the Executive Council 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.