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


Press Release on May 17, 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. 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, and are summarized as follows:

 
 Date of survey 3-7/5/04 9-16/8/04 8-11/11/04 14-16/2/05 9-12/5/05 Latest change
 Sample base 1,013 1,019 1,000 1,024 1,004 --
 Overall response rate 61.5% 62.9% 64.5% 65.2% 62.6% --
 Sampling error of percentages(at 95% confidence level)* +/- 1.6 +/- 2.0 +/- 1.8 +/- 1.8 +/-1.8 --
 Rita Fan 54.5 [3] 61.2 [2] 65.7 [2] 60.7 [1] 64.1 [1] +3.4
 Audrey Eu 58.0 [1] 65.5 [1] 66.7 [1] 60.4 [2] 63.5 [2] +3.1
 Selina Chow 55.2 [2] 58.2 [5] 60.3 [4] 57.6 [3] 60.3 [3] +2.7
 Lee Cheuk-yan 52.0 [5] 57.4 [6] ** 52.6 [5] 55.3 [4] +2.7
 James Tien 53.2 [4] 59.9 [3] 57.9 [5] 53.6 [4] 53.4 [5] -0.2
 Martin Lee 48.2 [8] 55.1 [7] 54.3 [7] 50.2 [6] 53.0 [6] +2.8
 Emily Lau 45.5 [9] 50.7 [9] 54.7 [6] 48.8 [7] 50.5 [7] +1.7
 Jasper Tsang 42.0 [10] 44.1 [10] 48.8 [9] 47.6 [8] 48.1 [8] +0.5
 Albert Cheng Not an LC member then 54.3 [7] 39.7 [9] 45.9 [9] +6.2
 Leung Kwok-hung 41.1 [10] 34.0 [10] 35.7 [10] +1.7
 Chan Yuen-han ** ** 62.7 [3] ** ** --
 James To 49.9 [6] ** ** ** ** --
 Szeto Wah 48.5 [7] 54.8 [8] No longer an LC member
 Lau Chin-shek ** 59.0 [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.
** Ratings with recognition rates not reaching top 10 in either stage of survey are not available.
[ ] Number in square brackets indicates rankings.

 

The latest survey conducted in early May showed that Rita Fan and Audrey Eu were the most popularly supported councillors, attaining 64.1 and 63.5 marks respectively. Selina Chow followed behind with 60.3 marks. Lee Cheuk-yan, James Tien and Martin Lee ranked 4th to 6th, scoring 55.3, 53.4 and 53.0 marks respectively. The subsequent ranks fell to Emily Lau, Jasper Tsang, Albert Cheng and Leung Kwok-hung correspondingly. The mean score obtained by the top 5 councillors was 59.3 marks, while that for the top 10 was 53.0 marks.

 

Robert Ting-Yiu Chung, Director of Public Opinion Programme, observed, "In terms of ranking, there is not much change among the ten best known Legco members over the last three months, only a swap between the fourth and fifth positions. Three female councillors with different political backgrounds continue to stay at the top of the list. In terms of ratings, other than James Tien, all councillors have improved, capitalizing on the new political environment after the change of Chief Executive. Among the best known councillors, Albert Cheng's popularity rating has gone up most, as he recovers from the Link REIT incident. In terms of absolute score, however, he is still much less popular than 6 months ago."

 

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 April (April 18-21). In that survey, respondents could name, unaided, up to 10 legislators whom they knew best. Martin Lee, Leung Kwok-hung, James Tien, Emily Lau and Lee Wing-tat 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 early May, 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 May 24, 2005, Tuesday, at 2 pm, the latest figures of people's appraisal of the professionalism of the local news media 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.