HKU POP SITE releases the latest figures on the popularity of CE Tung Chee-hwa, Principal Officials under the accountability system, and other members of the Executive CouncilBack

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 figures of CE Tung Chee-hwa, Principal Officials under the accountability system, and other members of the Executive Council. Recent figures on the popularity of Tung 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.

Results showed that the latest rating of CE Tung Chee-hwa registered in early October was 45.5 marks. Meanwhile, 62% of the respondents did not support Tung as the Chief Executive, whereas 22% did. The popularity ratings of Principal Officials under the accountability system, and other members of the Executive Council, for the same period 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 less than 50% recognition rates are taken as not representative.

With respect to the three Secretaries, the ratings of CS Donald Tsang Yam-kuen, FS Henry Tang Ying-yen and SJ Elsie Leung Oi-sie were 63.2, 58.9 and 47.4 marks respectively. As for the Directors of Bureaux, because it is POP's long established practice not to treat ratings of persons with less than 50% benchmark recognition rate as representative, the rating of Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology John Tsang Chun-wah cannot be meaningfully discussed in this survey, and has been listed separately in our summary tables. Results revealed that the most popular official remained to be Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works Sarah Liao Sau-tung, who scored 59.4 marks. Secretary for Security Ambrose Lee Siu-kwong and Secretary for Economic Development and Labour Stephen Ip Shu-kwan ranked 2nd and 3rd, with popularity ratings of 57.2 and 55.2 marks respectively. Secretary for Education and Manpower Arthur Li Kwok-cheung and Secretary for Home Affairs Patrick Ho Chi-ping ranked 4th and 5th, attaining 52.1 and 50.8 marks correspondingly. Secretary for the Civil Service Joseph Wong Wing-ping, Secretary for Housing, Planning and Lands Michael Suen Ming-yeung and Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food Yeoh Eng-kiong followed behind, scoring 48.8, 46.5 and 45.6 marks correspondingly. The 9th and 10th places fell to Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Frederick Ma Si-hang and Secretary for Constitutional Affairs Stephen Lam Sui-lung, with popularity ratings of 43.3 and 43.0 marks respectively.

Regarding people's ratings of the non-official members of the Executive Council, the newly appointed member Selina Chow scored 55.8 marks, Cheng Yiu-tong 44.7 marks, Leung Chun-ying 44.5 marks, Jasper Tsang 42.6 marks, while that of Liao Cheung-sing was not taken as representative because of his less-than-50% recognition rate. As for the sit-in members, the popularity ratings of the Director of CE's Office Lam Woon-kwong and the Head of Central Policy Unit Lau Siu-kai were 51.6 and 48.5 marks respectively.

Robert Ting-Yiu Chung, Director of Public Opinion Programme, made the following analysis: "CE Tung's popularity rebound has slowed down, meaning that the positive effects of CEPA and the withdrawal of the National Security Bill have been digested. In terms of absolute value, a popularity rating of 45.5 marks and a support rate of 22% are still very poor. As for the popularity of the Principal Officials, the only significant changes in the month past are Michael Suen's drop of 2.7 marks and Stephen Lam's replacing Frederick Ma as the bottom last. The effect of the SARS Expert Committee's Report on the popularity of the CE and the Principal Officials, however, is yet to be seen."

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 14, 2003, Tuesday, at 2 pm, the latest results of people's trust in the HKSAR and Beijing Central Governments, their confidence in Hong Kong's future, China's future and "one country, two systems" 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.