HKU POP SITE releases the latest popularity figures of non-official members of the Executive CouncilBack


Press Release on July 14, 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 popularity figures of non-official members of the Executive Council. 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 are summarized as follows:

 
 Date of survey 2-5/7/04 4-7/10/04 3-6/1/05 1-6/4/05 4-6/7/05 Latest change
 Sample base 1,026 1,016 1,022 1,024 1,020 --
 Overall response rate 63.0% 62.4% 64.6% 63.1% 61.9% --
 Sampling error of ratings (at 95% confidence level)* @ +/- 1.6 +/- 1.6 +/- 1.4 +/- 1.6 +/- 1.6 --
 Non-official member Selina Chow 54.4 56.1 55.8 58.9 58.5 -0.4
 Non-official member Bernard C Chan Survey not started yet ** ** 54.0 --
 Non-official member Cheng Yiu-tong 43.8 47.4 47.9 47.2 49.8 +2.6
 Non-official member Jasper Tsang 40.5 45.1 47.5 46.3 48.8 +2.5
 Non-official member Leung Chun-ying 39.9 43.3 45.5 46.3 47.8 +1.5
 Non-official member Liao Cheung-sing ** ** ** ** ** --
 Non-official member Laura M Cha Survey not started yet ** ** ** --
 Sit-in member Lau Siu-kai 45.3 48.8 50.1 50.4 51.1 +0.7
 Ex-sit-in member Lam Woon-kwong 50.1 52.3 52.4 Resigned --

* "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 less than 50% recognition rates are taken as not representative.
@ Erratum: The label of error margins in the original release was mis-typed.

 

The survey conducted in early July revealed that, regarding people's ratings of non-official members of the Executive Council, Selina Chow topped the list, attaining 58.5 marks. Bernard C Chan, who obtained a recognition rate of over 50% for the first time, followed behind with 54.0 marks. The ratings of Cheng Yiu-tong, Jasper Tsang and Leung Chun-ying were 49.8, 48.8 and 47.8 marks correspondingly, while those of Liao Cheung-sing and Laura M Cha were not taken as representative because of their less-than-50% recognition rates. As for the sit-in member, the Head of Central Policy Unit Lau Siu-kai scored 51.1 marks.

 

Robert Ting-Yiu Chung, Director of Public Opinion Programme, observed, "CE's high popularity has helped to boost that of his cabinet members, as the popularity ratings of most non-official members of the Executive Council lifted. Their relative rankings, however, have not changed much over the past year, while their recognition rates remained low. In our latest survey, 2 out of the 7 non-official members fell short of the 50% benchmark recognition rate, while 3 failed to reach the popularity benchmark of 50. Only Selina Chow enjoyed good popularity."

 

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 July 19, 2005, Tuesday, at 2 pm, the latest findings on the subjective freedom indicators 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.