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

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, as well as their confidence in Hong Kong's future, China's future and "one country, two systems". This survey was conducted before the New Year Rally, which was also the last data point for these survey items in 2003. Half-yearly average figures are available in our website, recent figures 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 a 5-point scale.

Results obtained in late December showed that 32% of the respondents trusted the HKSAR Government, and 50% trusted the Beijing Central Government. On the other hand, 61% were confident in Hong Kong's future, 86% were confident in China's future, while 56% 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 at the end of last year has recovered to over 60%, which was a record high in three years. It was, however, still far behind people's confidence in the future of China. Other than people's trust in the SAR Government, all indicators have rebounded to a level way before the SARS outbreak and July 1. One point to note is that people's trust in the Central Government has been on the upward trend, since the sacking of Chinese officials responsible for SARS last April. It is now near its record high registered in early 2002. Whether it can maintain its momentum will depend very much on how Beijing will handle Hong Kong people's demand for more democracy."

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. Since CE Tung Chee-hwa will announce his seventh policy address tomorrow (January 7, Wednesday), we will release people's instant reactions towards the policy address the day after tomorrow (January 8, Thursday) at 2 pm. Then, on January 13, 2004, Tuesday, at 2 pm, the latest figures on the popularity of Principal Officials under the accountability system and other members of the Executive Council, as well as those on 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.