HKU POP SITE releases the latest ratings of the Top 10 Legislative CouncillorsBack


Press Release on February 22, 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 ratings of the top 10 Legislative Councillors. As for people's appraisal of the news media, due to the large number of new figures, the release has been postponed to this Thursday. According to our general practice, all figures have been weighted according to the gender-age distribution of the Hong Kong population obtained from the 2001 Population Census, summarized as follows:

 
 Date of survey 9-14/2/04 3-7/5/04 9-16/8/04 8-11/11/04 14-16/2/05 Latest change
 Sample base 1,008 1,013 1,019 1,000 1,024 --
 Overall response rate 66.0% 61.5% 62.9% 64.5% 65.2% --
 Sampling error of percentages(at 95% confidence level)* +/- 1.8 +/- 1.6 +/- 2.0 +/- 1.8 +/- 1.8 --
 Rita Fan 61.4 [2] 54.5 [3] 61.2 [2] 65.7 [2] 60.7 [1] -5.0
 Audrey Eu 66.2 [1] 58.0 [1] 65.5 [1] 66.7 [1] 60.4 [2] -6.3
 Selina Chow 59.0 [3] 55.2 [2] 58.2 [5] 60.3 [4] 57.6 [3] -2.7
 James Tien 55.8 [5] 53.2 [4] 59.9 [3] 57.9 [5] 53.6 [4] -4.3
 Lee Cheuk-yan 58.8 [4] 52.0 [5] 57.4 [6] ** 52.6[5] --
 Martin Lee 54.6 [6] 48.2 [8] 55.1 [7] 54.3 [7] 50.2 [6] -4.1
 Emily Lau 49.7 [9] 45.5 [9] 50.7 [9] 54.7 [6] 48.8 [7] -5.9
 Jasper Tsang 42.6 [10] 42.0 [10] 44.1 [10] 48.8 [9] 47.6 [8] -1.2
 Albert Cheng Not an LC member then 54.3 [7] 39.7 [9] -14.6
 Leung Kwok-hung 41.1 [10] 34.0 [10] -7.1
 Chan Yuen-han ** ** ** 62.7 [3] ** --
 James To ** 49.9 [6] ** ** ** --
 Szeto Wah 53.2 [7] 48.5 [7] 54.8 [8] No longer an LC member
 Lau Chin-shek ** ** 59.0 [4] ** ** --
 Andrew Wong 49.9 [8] ** ** No longer an LC member

* "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.
** Ratings with recognition rates not reaching top 10 in either stage of survey are not available.
[ ] Number in square brackets indicates rankings.

 

With respect to the latest popularity ranking of the Legislative Councillors, results showed that Rita Fan and Audrey Eu were the most popularly supported councillors, attaining 60.7 and 60.4 marks respectively. Selina Chow followed behind with 57.6 marks. James Tien and Lee Cheuk-yan ranked 4th and 5th, scoring 53.6 and 52.6 marks respectively. The subsequent ranks fell to Martin Lee, Emily Lau, Jasper Tsang, Albert Cheng and Leung Kwok-hung correspondingly. The mean score obtained by the top 5 councillors was 57.0 marks, while that for the top 10 was 50.5 marks.

 

Robert Ting-Yiu Chung, Director of Public Opinion Programme, observed, "The popularity of the best known Legco members has all dropped over the past 3 months, irrespective of their political background. Among them, Albert Cheng's popularity rating has dramatically plunged almost 15 marks, obviously affected by the Link REIT event. Other Legco members with significant drops include Leung Kwok-hung, Audrey Eu, Emily Lau, Rita Fan, James Tien and Martin Lee, obviously affected by the abortion of meeting last month. Coupled with our observations released early this month, that people's dissatisfaction with Legco members has shot up over the past 3 months, Legco is now facing a popularity setback which is above its party division."

 

The research design of our "Top 10 Legislative Councillors" has been explained in detail under "Survey Method" in our corresponding web page. The top councillors listed in our latest survey were all those who obtained the highest unprompted mentions in our first stage naming survey conducted in late January (January 24-25). In that survey, respondents could name, unaided, up to 10 legislators whom they knew best. Martin Lee, Leung Kwok-hung, Albert Cheng, Rita Fan and James Tien were mentioned most frequently. Please refer to the relevant table for the rest of the list. Those 12 who were named most frequently then entered into the second stage rating survey. During the second stage rating survey conducted in mid-February, respondents were asked to rate each legislator in turn using a 0-100 scale. 0 indicates absolutely no support, 100 indicates absolute support, and 50 means half-half. After calculation, the bottom 2 legislators in terms of recognition rate were dropped, leaving behind the top 10. For easy reference, the POP Site has already displayed the results of all naming surveys conducted since the year 1998.

 

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 February 24, 2005, Thursday, at 2 pm, when we will release the latest figures of people's appraisal of the professionalism of the local news media. Some of the items would be released online for the first time, they include whether people feel the media has scruples when criticizing the local and central governments, and whether people feel the media had practiced self-censorship. Then, on March 1, 2005, Tuesday, at 2 pm, the latest popularity figures of CE Tung Chee-hwa and the 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.