HKU POP releases popularity figures of CE, CE-elect and principal officialsBack
Press Release on April 11, 2017
| Detailed Findings (Rating of Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying) | Detailed Findings (Popularity of Principal Officials) |
Special Announcements
1. Robert Chung, the Director of Public Opinion Programme (POP) of The University of Hong Kong, continues to publish his article series “Chung’s Blunt Words: CE-elect Series” in his online column “Chung’s Blunt Words” today, until June 30. Today he mentions how the new government should make reference to the popularity figures of principal officials when forming its new cabinet. Words” (www.facebook.com/ChungsBluntWords) soon. The copyrights of all articles are open to the world, the media is welcome to re-publish the articles in full or in part, early or concurrent publication can also be arranged.
2. To facilitate academic study and rational discussion, POP has already released for public examination some time ago via the “HKU POP SITE” (http://hkupop.pori.hk) the raw data of all 119 regular rating surveys of CE CY Leung, as well as the 181 regular rating surveys of former CE Donald Tsang and 239 regular rating surveys of former CE CH Tung, along with related demographics of respondents. POP today releases the raw data of the latest which is the 120th CE rating survey of CY Leung. Please follow normal academic standards when using or citing such data.
Abstract
POP interviewed 1,009 Hong Kong people between 3 and 6 April, 2017 by means of a random telephone survey conducted by real interviewers. Our latest survey shows that the popularity rating of CE CY Leung has slightly increased by 0.8 mark to 41.3 compared to two weeks ago, but still below the warning line of 45. His latest approval rate is 23%, disapproval rate 71%, giving a net popularity of negative 47 percentage points, significantly increased by 14 percentage points from late March, basically back to the level registered in early February. As for CE-elect Carrie Lam, her latest support rating is 55.6 marks, approval rate 48%, disapproval rate 46%, meaning that her net popularity has significantly increased from negative 8 percentage points to positive 2 percentage points. Her popularity figures are comparable to that of CY Leung five years ago when he first became CE-elect. As for the Secretaries of Departments, the latest support rating of CS Matthew Cheung is 51.3 marks. His approval rate is 31%, disapproval rate 17%, giving a net popularity of positive 14 percentage points. The latest support rating of FS Paul Chan is 37.2 marks, approval rate 16%, disapproval rate 49%, thus a net popularity of negative 33 percentage points. As for SJ Rimsky Yuen, his support rating is 47.3 marks, and both approval and disapproval stand at rate 30%, giving a net popularity of negative 1 percentage point. In terms of popularity rating and approval rate, Matthew Cheung is currently the most popular Secretary of Department. As for the Directors of Bureaux, compared to one month ago, the net approval rates of 10 among 13 Directors have gone up while 3 have gone down. Among them, Secretary for Security Lai Tung-kwok, Secretary for the Environment Wong Kam-sing and Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Ceajer Chan Ka-keung register significant changes in their net approval rates, up by 12, and down by 10 and 7 percentage points respectively. Among all the Directors, only Nicholas Yang, Lau Kong-wah and Eddie Ng register negative popularities, at negative 2, 24 and 50 percentage points respectively. Ko Wing-man continues to be the most popular Director, with a net approval rate of positive 79 percentage points. According to POP’s standard, Ko Wing-man falls under the category of “ideal” performer, no one falls under the category of “successful” performer. The performance of Lai Tung-kwok, Ceajer Chan, Anthony Cheung, Gregory So, Raymond Tam, Wong Kam-sing, Rimsky Yuen, Lau Kong-wah and Paul Chan can be labeled as “mediocre”. That of Matthew Cheung, Stephen Sui, Nicholas Yang, Clement Cheung and Eric Ma can be labeled as “inconspicuous”. Eddie Ng falls into the category of “depressing” performer, while CY Leung falls into that of “disastrous”. The maximum sampling error of all approval and disapproval rates is +/-4 percentage points at 95% confidence level, while the sampling errors of rating figures and net approval rates need another calculation. The response rate of the survey is 73%. As the support rating of CE CY Leung continues to stand below the warning line of 45, Research Manager of POP, Frank Lee, reprints the abstracts of two articles written by Director of POP, Robert Chung, before on CE popularity, to discuss the possibility of a governance crisis. The articles can be downloaded in full from the POP Site.
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 this survey is 1,009 successful interviews, not 1,009 x 73.1% 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 rating not more than +/-2.4, sampling error of percentages not more than +/-4%, and sampling error of net values not more than +/-7% 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 the latest popularity figures of CE CY Leung, CE-elect Carrie Lam and various Secretaries of Departments and Directors of Bureaux under the accountability system. From 2014, POP enhanced the previous simple weighting method based on age and gender distribution to “rim weighting” based on age, gender and education (highest level attended) distribution. The latest figures released today have been rim-weighted according to provisional figures obtained from the Census and Statistics Department regarding the gender-age distribution of the Hong Kong population in 2016 year-end and the educational attainment (highest level attended) distribution collected in the 2011 Census. Herewith the contact information for the latest survey:
|
Date of survey |
Overall sample size |
Response rate |
Maximum sampling error of percentages[6] |
|
3-6/4/2017 |
1,009 |
73.1% |
+/-3% |
[6] Errors are 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 sampling error. Sampling errors of ratings and net approval rates are calculated according to the distribution of the scores collected.
As different questions involve different sub-samples, the sampling errors will vary accordingly. The table below briefly shows the relationship between sample size and maximum sampling errors for the readers to capture the corresponding changes:
|
Sample size (total sample or sub-sample) |
Sampling error of percentages[7] (maximum values) |
Sample size (total sample or sub-sample) |
Sampling error of percentages[7] (maximum values) |
|
1,300 |
+/- 2.8% |
1,350 |
+/- 2.7% |
|
1,200 |
+/- 2.9% |
1,250 |
+/- 2.8% |
|
1,100 |
+/- 3.0% |
1,150 |
+/- 3.0% |
|
1,000 |
+/- 3.2% |
1,050 |
+/- 3.1% |
|
900 |
+/- 3.3% |
950 |
+/- 3.2% |
|
800 |
+/- 3.5% |
850 |
+/- 3.4% |
|
700 |
+/- 3.8% |
750 |
+/- 3.7% |
|
600 |
+/- 4.1% |
650 |
+/- 3.9% |
|
500 |
+/- 4.5% |
550 |
+/- 4.3% |
|
400 |
+/- 5.0% |
450 |
+/- 4.7% |
[7] Based on 95% confidence interval.
Recent popularity figures of CE CY Leung are summarized as follows:
|
Date of survey |
19-24/1/17 |
6-9/2/17 |
20-24/2/17 |
6-10/3/17 |
16-20/3/17 |
3-6/4/17 |
Latest change |
|
Sample base |
1,002 |
1,029 |
1,006 |
1,005 |
1,017 |
1,009 |
-- |
|
Overall response rate |
69.5% |
70.5% |
70.8% |
69.8% |
72.2% |
73.1% |
-- |
|
Finding |
Finding |
Finding |
Finding |
Finding |
Finding |
Finding and error [8] |
-- |
|
Rating of CE CY Leung |
42.6 |
40.8 |
41.7 |
39.4[9] |
40.5 |
41.3+/-1.8 |
+0.8 |
|
Vote of confidence in CE CY Leung |
20% |
23% |
21% |
19% |
18% |
23+/-3% |
+5%[9] |
|
Vote of no confidence in CE CY Leung |
75% |
71%[9] |
75%[9] |
77% |
79% |
71+/-3% |
-8%[9] |
|
Net approval rate |
-55% |
-48%[9] |
-55%[9] |
-59% |
-61% |
-47+/-5% |
+14%[9] |
[8] 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 rating not more than +/-1.8, sampling error of percentages not more than +/-3%, sampling error of net approval rates not more than +/-5% at 95% confidence level” when quoting the above figures. The error margin of previous survey can be found at the POP Site.
[9] Such changes have gone beyond the sampling errors at the 95% confidence level under the same weighting method, 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.
Recent popularity figures of CE-elect Carrie Lam are summarized as follows:
|
Date of survey |
27-30/3/17 |
3-6/4/17 |
Latest change |
|
Sample base |
1,002 |
1,009 |
-- |
|
Overall response rate |
70.6% |
73.1% |
-- |
|
Finding |
Finding |
Finding and error [10] |
-- |
|
Rating of CE-elect Carrie Lam |
55.6 |
55.6+/-1.8 |
-- |
|
Vote of confidence in CE-elect Carrie Lam |
43% |
48+/-3% |
+5%[11] |
|
Vote of no confidence in CE-elect Carrie Lam |
50% |
46+/-3% |
-4%[11] |
|
Net approval rate |
-8% |
2+/-6% |
+10%[11] |
[10] 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 rating not more than +/-1.8, sampling error of percentages not more than +/-3%, sampling error of net approval rates 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.
[11] Such changes have gone beyond the sampling errors at the 95% confidence level under the same weighting method, 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.
Recent popularity figures of the three Secretaries of Departments under the accountability system are summarized below:
|
Date of survey |
2-8/12/16 |
3-5/1/17 |
6-9/2/17 |
22/2/17[12] |
6-10/3/17 |
3-6/4/17 |
Latest change |
|
Sample base[12] |
573-630 |
544-641 |
615-664 |
559 |
497-688 |
571-601 |
-- |
|
Overall response rate |
69.2% |
56.7% |
70.5% |
64.4% |
69.8% |
73.1% |
-- |
|
Latest finding |
Finding |
Finding |
Finding |
Finding |
Finding |
Finding & error [13] |
-- |
|
Rating of CS Matthew Cheung[14] |
-- |
-- |
50.4 |
-- |
52.5[15] |
51.3+/-2.0 |
-1.2 |
|
Vote of confidence in
|
-- |
-- |
29% |
-- |
28% |
31+/-4% |
+3% |
|
Vote of no confidence in
|
-- |
-- |
17% |
-- |
15% |
17+/-3% |
+2% |
|
Net approval rate[14] |
-- |
-- |
12% |
-- |
13% |
14+/-6% |
+1% |
|
Rating of FS Paul Chan[14] |
-- |
-- |
34.0 |
47.4[15] |
38.0[15] |
37.2+/-2.4 |
-0.8 |
|
Vote of confidence in FS Paul Chan[14] |
-- |
-- |
17% |
30%[15] |
21%[15] |
16+/-3% |
-5%[15] |
|
Vote of no confidence in FS Paul Chan[14] |
-- |
-- |
46% |
26%[15] |
44%[15] |
49+/-4% |
+5%[15] |
|
Net approval rate[14] |
-- |
-- |
-29% |
4%[15] |
-24%[15] |
-33+/-6% |
-9%[15] |
|
Rating of SJ Rimsky Yuen |
41.1[15] |
41.6 |
45.5[15] |
-- |
44.4 |
47.3+/-2.2 |
+2.9[15] |
|
Vote of confidence in SJ Rimsky Yuen |
24%[15] |
27% |
31% |
-- |
27% |
30+/-4% |
+3% |
|
Vote of no confidence in SJ Rimsky Yuen |
32% |
35% |
34% |
-- |
34% |
30+/-4% |
-4% |
|
Net approval rate |
-8%[15] |
-8% |
-2% |
-- |
-7% |
-1+/-6% |
+6% |
[12] The frequency of this series of questions is different from that of CE popularity ratings. Comparisons, if made, should be synchronized using the same intervals. Starting from 2011, these questions only uses sub-samples of the tracking surveys concerned, the sample size for each question also varies. The survey conducted on 22/2/2017 was the Budget instant survey and only asked rating of FS as well as his vote of confidence.
[13] 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 various ratings not more than +/-2.4, sampling error of percentages not more than +/-4%, sampling error of net approval rates 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.
[14] Matthew Cheung and Paul Chan were appointed Chief Secretary for Administration and Financial Secretary respectively by the Central Government on January 16, 2017.
[15] Such changes have gone beyond the sampling errors at the 95% confidence level under the same weighting method, 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.
Latest popularity figures of Directors of Bureaux under the accountability system are summarized below, in descending order of net approval rates:
|
Date of survey |
6-9/2/17 |
6-10/3/17 |
3-6/4/17 |
Latest change |
|||
|
Sample base [16] |
596-634 |
574-633 |
566-601 |
-- |
|||
|
Overall response rate |
70.5% |
69.8% |
73.1% |
-- |
|||
|
Sample base for each question /
|
Base |
% |
Base |
% |
Base |
% &
|
-- |
|
Vote of confidence in Secretary for Food and Health Ko Wing-man |
631 |
77% |
608 |
82%[18] |
579 |
82+/-3% |
-- |
|
Vote of no confidence in Secretary for Food and Health Ko Wing-man |
631 |
5% |
608 |
6% |
579 |
3+/-2% |
-3%[18] |
|
Net approval rate |
631 |
73% |
608 |
76% |
579 |
79+/-4% |
+3% |
|
Vote of confidence in Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Ceajer Chan |
620 |
52%[18] |
610 |
51% |
589 |
44+/-4% |
-7%[18] |
|
Vote of no confidence in Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Ceajer Chan |
620 |
5%[18] |
610 |
7% |
589 |
7+/-2% |
-- |
|
Net approval rate |
620 |
47%[18] |
610 |
43% |
589 |
36+/-5% |
-7%[18] |
|
Vote of confidence in Secretary for Transport and Housing Anthony Cheung |
631 |
43%[18] |
617 |
37%[18] |
574 |
40+/-4% |
+3% |
|
Vote of no confidence in Secretary for Transport and Housing Anthony Cheung |
631 |
20% |
617 |
22% |
574 |
19+/-3% |
-3% |
|
Net approval rate |
631 |
22%[18] |
617 |
15%[18] |
574 |
21+/-6% |
+6% |
|
Vote of confidence in Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Gregory So |
596 |
38%[18] |
589 |
38% |
597 |
38+/-4% |
-- |
|
Vote of no confidence in Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Gregory So |
596 |
23% |
589 |
21% |
597 |
20+/-3% |
-1% |
|
Net approval rate |
596 |
15%[18] |
589 |
16% |
597 |
18+/-6% |
+2% |
|
Vote of confidence in Secretary for Security Lai Tung-kwok |
609 |
39% |
633 |
36% |
598 |
44+/-4% |
+8%[18] |
|
Vote of no confidence in Secretary for Security Lai Tung-kwok |
609 |
24%[18] |
633 |
31%[18] |
598 |
27+/-4% |
-4% |
|
Net approval rate |
609 |
16%[18] |
633 |
5%[18] |
598 |
17+/-7% |
+12%[18] |
|
Vote of confidence in Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Raymond Tam |
608 |
34% |
593 |
33% |
597 |
34+/-4% |
+1% |
|
Vote of no confidence in Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Raymond Tam |
608 |
19% |
593 |
24%[18] |
597 |
21+/-3% |
-3% |
|
Net approval rate |
608 |
15% |
593 |
9% |
597 |
13+/-6%[19] |
+4% |
|
Vote of confidence in Secretary for the Civil Service Clement Cheung |
634 |
22% |
599 |
19% |
592 |
21+/-3% |
+2% |
|
Vote of no confidence in Secretary for the Civil Service Clement Cheung |
634 |
7%[18] |
599 |
8% |
592 |
7+/-2% |
-1% |
|
Net approval rate |
634 |
16% |
599 |
11%[18] |
592 |
13+/-4%[19] |
+2% |
|
Vote of confidence in Secretary for Labour and Welfare Stephen Sui |
598 |
22% |
631 |
23% |
598 |
23+/-3% |
-- |
|
Vote of no confidence in Secretary for Labour and Welfare Stephen Sui |
598 |
10% |
631 |
13% |
598 |
12+/-3% |
-1% |
|
Net approval rate |
598 |
12% |
631 |
10% |
598 |
11+/-5% |
+1% |
|
Vote of confidence in Secretary for the Environment Wong Kam-sing |
605 |
35% |
574 |
36% |
601 |
32+/-4% |
-4% |
|
Vote of no confidence in Secretary for the Environment Wong Kam-sing |
605 |
15%[18] |
574 |
19%[18] |
601 |
25+/-4% |
+6%[18] |
|
Net approval rate |
605 |
21%[18] |
574 |
17% |
601 |
7+/-6% |
-10%[18] |
|
Vote of confidence in Secretary for Development Eric Ma |
616 |
17% |
594 |
17% |
585 |
20+/-3% |
+3% |
|
Vote of no confidence in Secretary for Development Eric Ma |
616 |
15% |
594 |
16% |
585 |
15+/-3% |
-1% |
|
Net approval rate |
616 |
1% |
594 |
1% |
585 |
5+/-5% |
+4% |
|
Vote of confidence in Secretary for Innovation and Technology Nicholas Yang |
615 |
22% |
608 |
24% |
579 |
21+/-3% |
-3% |
|
Vote of no confidence in Secretary for Innovation and Technology Nicholas Yang |
615 |
23%[18] |
608 |
25% |
579 |
23+/-4% |
-2% |
|
Net approval rate |
615 |
-1%[18] |
608 |
-1% |
579 |
-2+/-6% |
-1% |
|
Vote of confidence in Secretary for Home Affairs Lau Kong-wah |
607 |
23% |
611 |
20% |
592 |
22+/-3% |
+2% |
|
Vote of no confidence in Secretary for Home Affairs Lau Kong-wah |
607 |
45% |
611 |
47% |
592 |
46+/-4% |
-1% |
|
Net approval rate |
607 |
-23% |
611 |
-28% |
592 |
-24+/-7% |
+4% |
|
Vote of confidence in Secretary for Education Eddie Ng |
620 |
15%[18] |
600 |
11%[18] |
566 |
13+/-3% |
+2% |
|
Vote of no confidence in Secretary for Education Eddie Ng |
620 |
63% |
600 |
67% |
566 |
63+/-4% |
-4% |
|
Net approval rate |
620 |
-48% |
600 |
-56%[18] |
566 |
-50+/-6% |
+6% |
[16] Starting from 2006, these questions only uses sub-samples of the tracking surveys concerned, the sample size for each question also varies.
[17] 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 approval rates not more than +/-7% at 95% confidence level” when quoting the above figures. The error margin of previous survey can be found at the POP Site.
[18] Such changes have gone beyond the sampling errors at the 95% confidence level under the same weighting method, 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.
[19] Based on the figures of latest survey, in two decimal places, the respective net approval rates of Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Raymond Tam and Secretary for the Civil Service Clement Cheung are 13.34 and 13.33 percentage points. Thus, they are ranked sixth and seventh this time.
The latest survey showed that, CE CY Leung scored 41.3 marks, and 23% supported him as CE, his net approval rate is negative 47 percentage points. CE-elect Carrie Lam scored 55.6 marks, and 48% supported her as CE, her net approval rate is positive 2 percentage points. Meanwhile, the corresponding ratings of CS Matthew Cheung, FS Paul Chan and SJ Rimsky Yuen were 51.3, 37.2 and 47.3 marks, and 31%, 16% and 30% would vote for their reappointments correspondingly. Their net approval rates are positive 14, negative 33 and negative 1 percentage points respectively.
As for the Directors of Bureaux, according to the net approval rates, results revealed that the top position goes to Secretary for Food and Health Ko Wing-man, attaining positive 79 percentage points. The 2nd and 3rd places belong to Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Ceajer Chan and Secretary for Transport and Housing Anthony Cheung with net approval rates of positive 36 and positive 21 percentage points respectively. Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Gregory So, Secretary for Security Lai Tung-kwok, Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Raymond Tam, Secretary for the Civil Service Clement Cheung, Secretary for Labour and Welfare Stephen Sui, Secretary for the Environment Wong Kam-sing, Secretary for Development Eric Ma, Secretary for Innovation and Technology Nicholas Yang, Secretary for Home Affairs Lau Kong-wah and Secretary for Education Eddie Ng ranked 4th to 13th, their corresponding net approval rates are positive 18, positive 17, positive 13, positive 13, positive 11, positive 7, positive 5, negative 2, negative 24 and negative 50 percentage points. In other words, only Ko Wing-man scored net approval rate of over 50% among all Directors of Bureaux.
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 of some items was conducted from 6 to 10 March, 2017 while this survey was conducted from 3 to 6 April, 2017. 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.
|
1/4/17 |
Chief executive-elect Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor accepts TV and radio interviews. |
|
27/3/17 |
The police charge nine protesters of the Occupy Central movement. |
|
26/3/17 |
Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor is elected as the fifth Chief Executive of Hong Kong. |
|
21/3/17 |
The government reaches an agreement with MTR Corporation on the review of the fare adjustment mechanism. |
|
19/3/17 |
Chief Executive Candidates John Tsang Chun-wah, Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor and Woo Kwok-hing attend the last forum organized by Election Committee Members. |
|
17/3/17 |
Three protesters are convicted by the District Court of last year’s Mongkok Riot and sentenced to three years’ imprisonment. |
|
14/3/17 |
Chief Executive Candidates John Tsang Chun-wah, Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor and Woo Kwok-hing attend a forum hosted by seven major TV and radio stations. |
|
13/3/17 |
Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying is elected the Vice-Chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. |
|
6/3/17 |
Chairman of the National People’s Congress Zhang Dejiang meets with Hong Kong deputies to the National People’s Congress. |
Commentary
Note: The following commentary was written by Research Manager of POP, Frank Lee.
Our latest survey conducted in early April shows that the popularity rating of CE CY Leung has slightly increased by 0.8 mark to 41.3 compared to two weeks ago, but still below the warning line of 45. His latest approval rate is 23%, disapproval rate 71%, giving a net popularity of negative 47 percentage points, significantly increased by 14 percentage points from late March, basically back to the level registered in early February.
As for CE-elect Carrie Lam, her latest support rating is 55.6 marks, approval rate 48%, disapproval rate 46%, meaning that her net popularity has significantly increased from negative 8 percentage points to positive 2 percentage points. Her popularity figures are comparable to that of CY Leung five years ago when he first became CE-elect.
As for the Secretaries of Departments, the latest support rating of CS Matthew Cheung is 51.3 marks. His approval rate is 31%, disapproval rate 17%, giving a net popularity of positive 14 percentage points. The latest support rating of FS Paul Chan is 37.2 marks, approval rate 16%, disapproval rate 49%, thus a net popularity of negative 33 percentage points. As for SJ Rimsky Yuen, his support rating is 47.3 marks, and both approval and disapproval stand at rate 30%, giving a net popularity of negative 1 percentage point. In terms of popularity rating and approval rate, Matthew Cheung is currently the most popular Secretary of Department.
As for the Directors of Bureaux, compared to one month ago, the net approval rates of 10 among 13 Directors have gone up while 3 have gone down. Among them, Secretary for Security Lai Tung-kwok, Secretary for the Environment Wong Kam-sing and Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Ceajer Chan Ka-keung register significant changes in their net approval rates, up by 12, and down by 10 and 7 percentage points respectively. Among all the Directors, only Nicholas Yang, Lau Kong-wah and Eddie Ng register negative popularities, at negative 2, 24 and 50 percentage points respectively. Ko Wing-man continues to be the most popular Director, with a net approval rate of positive 79 percentage points.
According to POP’s standard, Ko Wing-man falls under the category of “ideal” performer, no one falls under the category of “successful” performer. The performance of Lai Tung-kwok, Ceajer Chan, Anthony Cheung, Gregory So, Raymond Tam, Wong Kam-sing, Rimsky Yuen, Lau Kong-wah and Paul Chan can be labeled as “mediocre”. That of Matthew Cheung, Stephen Sui, Nicholas Yang, Clement Cheung and Eric Ma can be labeled as “inconspicuous”. Eddie Ng falls into the category of “depressing” performer, while CY Leung falls into that of “disastrous”.
The following table summarizes the grading of CE and the principal officials for readers’ easy reference:
|
“Ideal”: those with approval rates of over 66%; ranked by their approval rates shown inside brackets |
|
Secretary for Food and Health Ko Wing-man (82%) |
|
“Successful”: those with approval rates of over 50%; ranked by their approval rates shown inside brackets |
|
|
|
“Mediocre”: those not belonging to other 5 types; ranked by their approval rates shown inside brackets |
|
Secretary for Security Lai Tung-kwok (44%) [20]; Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Ceajer Chan Ka-keung (44%)[20]; Secretary for Transport and Housing Anthony Cheung Bing-leung (40%); Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Gregory So Kam-leung (38%); Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Raymond Tam Chi-yuen (34%); Secretary for the Environment Wong Kam-sing (32%); SJ Rimsky Yuen Kwok-keung (30%); Secretary for Home Affairs Lau Kong-wah (22%); FS Paul Chan Mo-po (16%) |
|
|
|
“Inconspicuous”: those with recognition rates of less than 50%; ranked by their approval rates; the first figure inside bracket is approval rate while the second figure is recognition rate |
|
CS Matthew Cheung Kin-chung (31%, 48%); Secretary for Labour and Welfare Stephen Sui Wai-keung (23%, 34%); Secretary for Innovation and Technology Nicholas Yang Wei-hsiung (21%, 44%)[21]; Secretary for the Civil Service Clement Cheung Wan-ching (21%, 28%) [21]; Secretary for Development Eric Ma Siu-cheung (20%, 36%) |
|
|
|
“Depressing”: those with disapproval rates of over 50%; ranked by their disapproval rates shown inside brackets |
|
Secretary for Education Eddie Ng Hak-kim (63%) |
|
“Disastrous”: those with disapproval rates of over 66%; ranked by their disapproval rates shown inside brackets |
|
CE Leung Chun-ying (71%) |
[20] In one decimal place, the respective approval rates of Secretary for Security Lai Tung-kwok and Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Ceajer Chan Ka-keung are 44.3% and 43.7%.
[21] In one decimal place, the respective approval rates of Secretary for Innovation and Technology Nicholas Yang Wei-hsiung and Secretary for the Civil Service Clement Cheung Wan-ching are 21.0% and 20.6%.
Future Release (Tentative)
Reference: "Chung's Blunt Words - Popularity Basis of the New Cabinet"
(Please refer to the Chinese article)
