HKU POP SITE releases the latest figures on the popularity of SAR and Central Governments, and people's confidence in the futureBack


Press Release on September 1, 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 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". 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 below:

 
 Date of survey 18-23/12/04 17-20/2/05 11-14/4/05 20-23/6/05 22-25/8/05 Latest change
 Sample base 1,020 1,026 1,009 1,026 1,004 --
 Overall response rate 68.4% 67.1% 62.8% 61.9% 63.5% --
 Sampling error of percentages(at 95% confidence level)* +/- 3% +/- 3% +/- 3% +/- 3% +/- 3% --
 Trust in HKSAR Government** 39% 41% 44% 56% 57% +1%
 Distrust in HKSAR Government** 35% 29% 14% 13% 15% +2%
 Trust in Beijing Government** 51% 41% 40% 48% 46% -2%
 Distrust in Beijing Government** 19% 27% 26% 22% 26% +4%
 Confidence in HK's future 64% 64% 67% 77% 73% -4%
 No-confidence in HK's future 26% 21% 19% 11% 20% +9%
 Confidence in China's future 84% 80% 79% 78% 82% +4%
 No-confidence in China's future 8% 11% 12% 11% 11% --
 Confidence in "one country, two systems" 64% 57% 56% 59% 64% +5%
 No-confidence in "one country, two systems" 27% 29% 31% 24% 27% +3%

* "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.

 

Survey conducted in late August revealed that 57% of the respondents trusted the HKSAR Government, and 46% trusted the Beijing Central Government. On the other hand, 73% of the respondents had confidence in Hong Kong's future and 82% had confidence in China's future, while 64% of the respondents were confident in "one country, two systems".

 

Robert Ting-Yiu Chung, Director of Public Opinion Programme, observed, "Compared to two months ago, people's trust in the SAR and Central Governments in late August have not changed much. The thrust of changing the CE has apparently been maintained. People's confidence in the future of Hong Kong has dropped slightly, while their confidence in the future of China has increased slightly, both standing at high figures. People's confidence in 'one country, two systems', however, has increased significantly compared to two months ago, but is still much lower than the other two confidence figures. Because the survey was conducted before CE's announcement that he would lead all Legco members to visit the Pearl River Delta in late September, the effect of this development on public opinion is yet to be seen, but it would very likely to be on the positive side."

 

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 September 6, 2005, Tuesday, at 2 pm, the latest ratings of the most well-known political groups 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.