HKU POP SITE releases the latest results of various subjective legal indicatorsBack

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 various subjective legal indicators. 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.

Results obtained in early January showed that, people's appraisal of the impartiality of the courts scored 6.88 marks, that of the compliance with the rule of law scored 6.59 marks, while the latest rating of the fairness of the judicial system was 6.50 marks. Meanwhile, the latest popularity rating of Chief Justice Andrew Li Kowk-nang, a representative figure of the judicial system, was 59.4 marks, on a scale of 0-100.

Robert Ting-Yiu Chung, Director of Public Opinion Programme, made the following analysis: "Last year's July 1 Demonstration has pushed people's dissatisfaction to the extreme, all subjective rule of law indicators, together with the popularity rating of Chief Justice Andrew Li, the figurehead of the judicial system, plunged. Six months have passed, shortly before the Chinese New Year, our survey revealed that all such indicators have recovered their ground lost since July 1. They were even higher than last April's scores. Although Michael Wong, a retired Justice of Appeal of the Court of Appeal of the High Court, was involved in the Equal Opportunities Commission incident, people's confidence in the judiciary has remained unaffected."

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 our schedule, the date and time of our next release will be January 29, 2004, Thursday, at 2 pm, findings of a Policy Address follow-up survey will be released. Then, on February 3, 2004, Tuesday, at 2 pm, we will release the latest figures on the popularity of CE Tung Chee-hwa, as well as people's appraisal of the performance of the HKSAR Government and members of the Legislative Council.

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.