HKU POP SITE releases the latest figures on subjective social and legal indicatorsBack


Press Release on January 25, 2005
 

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 figures on subjective social and legal indicators. Recent figures of the indicators are summarized as follows:

 
 Date of survey 9-12/1/04 19-22/4/04 19-21/7/04 18-21/10/04 17-19/1/05 Latest change
 Sample base 1,026 1,029 1,031 1,011 1,022 ---
 Overall response rate 64.6% 61.1% 63.8% 63.3% 64.8% ---
 Sampling error of indicators(at 95% confidence level)* +/- 0.12 +/- 0.14 +/- 0.14 +/- 0.12 +/- 0.14 ---
 Sampling error of personal rating (at 95% confidence level)* +/- 1.6 +/- 1.2 +/- 1.6 +/- 1.2 +/- 1.6 ---
 Degree of freedom 7.38 6.96 7.15 7.17 7.54 +0.37
 Degree of civilization 7.30 7.05 7.18 7.13 7.24 +0.11
 Degree of public order 7.03 6.68 6.79 6.85 7.18 +0.33
 Degree of corruption-free practices 6.87 6.83 6.80 7.04 7.07 +0.03
 Degree of stability 6.73 6.41 6.50 6.67 6.79 +0.12
 Degree of efficiency 6.79 6.37 6.51 6.57 6.73 +0.16
 Degree of prosperity 6.29 6.06 6.48 6.29 6.60 +0.31
 Degree of social welfare sufficiency 6.38 6.02 6.21 6.00 6.31 +0.31
 Degree of equality 6.23 6.08 6.07 6.18 6.15 -0.03
 Degree of democracy 5.79 5.63 5.97 6.02 6.08 +0.06
 Degree of fairness 5.68 5.62 5.70 5.90 5.52 -0.38
 Impartiality of the courts 6.88 6.82 6.90 6.77 7.05 +0.28
 Compliance with the rule of law 6.59 6.27 6.42 6.71 6.73 +0.02
 Fairness of the judicial system 6.50 6.25 6.54 6.59 6.72 +0.13
 Support rating of Andrew Li 59.4 58.0 57.4 60.5 62.0 +1.5

* "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.

 

Regarding the social indicators, results obtained in mid-January showed that, on a scale of 0-10, Hong Kong's degree of "freedom" scored the highest rating with 7.54 marks. "Civilization", "public order" and "corruption-free practices" followed behind, with 7.24, 7.18 and 7.07 marks respectively. "Stability", "efficiency" and "prosperity" formed the next tier, scoring 6.79, 6.73 and 6.60 marks respectively. Meanwhile, the ratings of "social welfare sufficiency", "equality" and "democracy" were 6.31, 6.15 and 6.08 marks correspondingly. Last of all, "fairness" scored 5.52 marks.

 

As for the legal indicators, people's latest appraisal of the impartiality of the courts scored 7.05 marks, that of the compliance with the rule of law was 6.73 marks, while the rating of the fairness of the judicial system scored 6.72 marks. Meanwhile, the latest popularity rating of Chief Justice Andrew Li Kowk-nang, a representative figure of the judicial system, was 62.0 marks, on a scale of 0-100.

 

Robert Ting-Yiu Chung, Director of Public Opinion Programme, observed, "Among the 15 subjective indicators including the popularity rating of Chief Justice, 13 have increased over the past 3 months. Freedom, public order, corruption-free, and impartiality of the courts even reached record high since the handover, all scored over 7 marks. Hong Kong people seem to be feeling good. Amidst the controversy surrounding the Link Reit listing, people have apparently increased their faith in the courts. There are, however, warning signals. Fairness indicator has dropped significantly, still at the bottom of the list, while equality has stayed back against the general trend. Collusion and equal opportunity have become issues which the government must face head-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 will be February 1 2005, Tuesday, at 2 pm, the latest popularity of CE Tung Chee-hwa and HKSAR Government 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.