HKU POP SITE releases the latest figures on the popularity of SAR and Central Governments, and people's confidence in the future Back


Press Release on October 19, 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 findings on 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 below:

 
 Date of survey 20-23/2 13-16/4 21-24/6 21-28/8 11-14/10 Latest change
 Sample base 1,045 1,022 1,023 1,033 1,010 --
 Overall response rate 65.3% 64.4% 63.9% 65.4% 63.6% --
 Sampling error of percentages(at 95% confidence level)* +/- 3% +/- 3% +/- 3% +/- 3% +/- 3% --
 Trust in HKSAR Government** 34% 28% 35% 39% 38% -1%
 Distrust in HKSAR Government** 30% 30% 35% 32% 20% -12%
 Trust in Beijing Government** 43% 38% 39% 45% 45% --
 Distrust in Beijing Government** 22% 25% 30% 26% 18% -8%
 Confidence in HK's future 62% 58% 60% 62% 62% --
 No-confidence in HK's future 23% 29% 26% 26% 25% -1%
 Confidence in China's future 85% 83% 80% 82% 84% +2%
 No-confidence in China's future 7% 9% 11% 11% 8% -3%
 Confidence in "one country, two systems" 57% 50% 48% 55% 59% +4%
 No-confidence in "one country, two systems" 27% 37% 35% 31% 27% -4%

* "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.

 

The survey conducted in mid-October revealed 38% of the respondents trusted the HKSAR Government, and 45% trusted the Beijing Central Government. On the other hand, 62% of the respondents had confidence in Hong Kong's future and 84% had confidence in China's future, while 59% of the respondents were confident in the "one country, two systems".

 

Robert Ting-Yiu Chung, Director of Public Opinion Programme, observed, "Our latest survey shows that people's distrust in the SAR and Central Governments have subsided over the past two months, for 12 and 8 percentage points respectively. However, this does not mean that their trust level has increased, meaning that more people are becoming ambivalent. Over the past three years, Hong Kong people have trusted the Central Government more than the SAR Government, and they have been more confident about China than Hong Kong's future. This is something our own government should carefully reflect on."

 

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. The date and time of our next release of regular survey findings will be October 21, 2004, Thursday, at 2 pm, the latest findings on the subjective freedom indicators will be released, while the latest popularity of CE Tung Chee-hwa and HKSAR Government will be released on October 26, 2004, Tuesday, at 2 pm.

 

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.