HKU POP SITE releases a new round of survey results on people's trust in different governments and their confidence in the futureBack

Press Release on October 14, 2003

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 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". Recent figures are summarized as follows:

Date of survey	16-23/4	13-18/6	18-20/8	8-11/10
Sample base	1,021	1,043	1,032	1,004
Overall response rate	68.9%	68.0%	70.3%	60.8%
Sampling error of percentages(at 95% confidence level)*	+/- 3%	+/- 3%	+/- 3%	+/- 3%

Trust in HKSAR Government**	27%	32%	33%	25%
Distrust in HKSAR Government**	46%	41%	36%	31%
Trust in Beijing Government**	32%	40%	43%	44%
Distrust in Beijing Government**	36%	27%	25%	18%
Confidence in HK's future	36%	42%	49%	52%
No-confidence in HK's future	51%	45%	35%	34%
Confidence in China's future	75%	79%	81%	81%
No-confidence in China's future	13%	11%	8%	9%
Confidence in "one country, two systems"	51%	49%	52%	53%
No-confidence in "one country, two systems"	38%	38%	33%	32%

* "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 a 5-point scale.

Results showed that 25% of the respondents trusted the HKSAR Government, and 44% trusted the Beijing Central Government. Regarding people's confidence level, 52% were confident in Hong Kong's future, 81% were confident in China's future, while 53% expressed confidence in "one country, two systems".

Robert Ting-Yiu Chung, Director of Public Opinion Programme, made the following analysis: "People's confidence in Hong Kong's future in early October has rebounded to more than 50%, recovering the ground lost since April last year. People's trust in the Beijing Central Government, their confidence in 'one country, two systems' and the future of China, have all remained stable. The figure for the last item has remained high, at more than 80%. One important development lately is the significant drop in people's trust in the SAR Government, to a record low of 25%. The dominant view is now 'half-half', reaching almost 40%. Because people's trust in a government is more deep-rooted than their mere appraisal of its performance, it is high time that the government launched a comprehensive scheme to regain the trust of the people."

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 21, 2003, Tuesday, at 2 pm, the latest results of the 4 subjective freedom indicators on Hong Kong's freedom of "speech", "press", "publication" and "procession and demonstration" 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.