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Press Release on May 25, 2004

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 of CE Tung Chee-hwa and HKSAR Government. A column article entitled "Inadequate Support Mechanisms in Taiwan's Democratic System" is also released in the POP Site. The article discusses the support mechanisms in Taiwan's democratic system, starting from the exit polls of the presidential election. Recent figures of CE Tung Chee-hwa and HKSAR Government are summarized as follows:

Date of survey	22-24/3	1-3/4	19-22/4	3-7/5	18-20/5	Latest change
Sample base	1,015	1,022	1,029	1,013	1,039	--
Overall response rate	67.8%	64.1%	61.1%	61.5%	62.3%	--
Sampling error of ratings (at 95% conf. level)*	+/- 1.4	+/- 1.4	+/- 1.4	+/- 1.4	+/- 1.4	--
Sampling error of percentages (at 95% conf. level)*	+/- 3%	+/- 3%	+/- 3%	+/- 3%	+/- 3%	--
Support rating of CH Tung	46.2	43.0	44.2	42.7	42.0	-0.7
Vote of no confidence in CH Tung	63%	67%	66%	64%	65%	+1%
Vote of confidence in CH Tung	18%	15%	16%	18%	16%	-2%
Dissatisfaction rate of SARG performance**	44%	--	49%	--	58%	+9%
Satisfaction rate of SARG performance**	15%	--	16%	--	13%	-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.
** Collapsed from a 5-point scale.

Results obtained in mid-May showed that, the rating of CE Tung Chee-hwa was 42.0 marks. Meanwhile, 65% of the respondents did not support Tung as the Chief Executive, whereas 16% did. Regarding people's appraisal of the overall performance of the HKSAR Government, the latest figures revealed that 58% were dissatisfied, whereas 13% were satisfied.

Robert Ting-Yiu Chung, Director of Public Opinion Programme, analyzed: "The survey shows that the popularity of both the Chief Executive and the SAR Government are at their lowest since August last year. They are higher than the July 2003 figures, but lower than those of June 2003. In other words, the situation is getting like that before July 1 last year. Learning from last year's experience, the government must now move quickly to relieve people's grievances, especially people's recent worries that freedom of speech has been curbed."

With regard to the problems in the democratic system in Taiwan, Robert Ting-Yiu Chung today pointed out in his column article that the mainstream media in Taiwan usually lacks neutrality in reporting elections. Pre-election polls are usually regarded as tools for political propaganda, this suffocates the development of exit polls in Taiwan. Also, there is a lack of neutral force in the Taiwan society and support mechanisms in Taiwan's democratic system are immature. According to Chung, the March 20 referendum in Taiwan has became a propaganda campaign and a good democratic mechanism has thus been wasted.

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 of regular survey findings will be June 1, 2004, Tuesday, at 2 pm, the latest findings of our annual survey on the June Fourth Incident 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 <pop.network@hkupop.pori.hk>. 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.