HKU POP SITE releases the latest subjective freedom indicators, and various figures on trust and confidenceBack

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 the various subjective freedom indicators, 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". As a general practice, all figures have been weighted according to the gender-age distribution of the Hong Kong population obtained from the 2001 Population Census. Recent figures on the subjective freedom indicators are summarized below:

* "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.

The survey conducted in mid-April revealed that, on a scale of 0-10, the freedoms of "entering or leaving Hong Kong" and "religious belief" scored the highest ratings with 8.52 and 8.48 marks, followed by freedoms to engage in "academic research" and "artistic and literary creation", attaining 8.06 and 7.93 marks correspondingly. Freedoms of "procession and demonstration", "press", "speech" and "publication" formed the next tier, with respective scores of 7.36, 7.28, 7.27 and 7.26 marks. Finally, the freedom of "association" and to "strike" attained 7.14 and 6.65 marks.

Robert Ting-Yiu Chung, Director of Public Opinion Programme, observed, "After reaching almost record high three months ago since the handover, almost all subjective freedom indicators have gone down again, but still better than those 6 months ago. In terms of numerical values, the 10 indicators can be divided into 4 grades. The top grade includes 'freedom to enter or leave Hong Kong' and 'freedom of religious belief', at around 8.5 marks. The second grade includes 'freedom to engage in academic research' and 'freedom to engage in artistic and literary creation', at about 8.0 marks. Then come 'freedom of procession and demonstration', 'freedom of press', 'freedom of speech', 'freedom of publication' and 'freedom of association', between 7.0 and 7.5 marks. 'Freedom to strike' comes last, at about 6.5 marks. Such a distinction into four grades has become more and more obvious over the past 6 months."

With regard to 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 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.
** Collapsed from a 5-point scale.

The latest figures revealed that 44% of the respondents trusted the HKSAR Government, and 40% trusted the Beijing Central Government. On the other hand, 67% had confidence in Hong Kong's future and 79% had confidence in China's future, while 56% of them were confident in "one country, two systems".

Robert Ting-Yiu Chung, Director of Public Opinion Programme, observed again, "After CH Tung's resignation, people's trust in the SAR Government has overtaken that of the Central Government, for the first time since October 2001. People's confidence in the future of Hong Kong has also increased apparently. The change of Chief Executive should have increased people's trust in the Central Government as well, but the recent controversy over the reinterpretation of the Basic Law has seemingly ground down the edge of the Central Government over the SAR Government."

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 April 21, 2005, Thursday, at 2 pm, the latest popularity figures of Acting Chief Executive Donald Tsang and Financial Secretary Henry Tang, as well as results of the Budget follow-up survey will be released. Then on April 26, 2005, Tuesday, at 2 pm, we will release the latest popularity figures of Acting CE and HKSAR Government.

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.