HKU POP SITE releases figures of people's satisfaction with the performance of the Legislative Council members in general, the People's Liberation Army Hong Kong garrison and the Hong Kong Police ForceBack

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 figures of people's satisfaction with the performance of the Legislative Council members in general, the People's Liberation Army Hong Kong garrison (PLA) and the Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF). As a general practice, all figures have been weighted according to the gender-age distribution of the Hong Kong population obtained from the Population Census. 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.

Results of survey conducted in late October revealed that 28% of the respondents were satisfied with the overall performance of the Legco members, and 23% were dissatisfied. As for the performance of the HKPF, 75% were satisfied while 5% were dissatisfied. Besides, 59% were satisfied with the performance of the PLA stationed in Hong Kong, whereas only 3% were dissatisfied.

Robert Ting-Yiu Chung, Director of Public Opinion Programme, observed, "People's satisfaction with Legco members in general has increased to a record high for this session, but at a much slower pace than that of the SAR government as a whole. The government led by Donald Tsang is now about 30 percentage points more popular than Legco members. Since the popularity base of the legislature is lagging far behind than that of the entire government, which comprises the executive, the legislature and judiciary, its ability to check and balance the executive arm may be handicapped. It should, however, be noted that the overall performance of Legco members includes those returned by geographical as well as functional constituencies, and it is not a direct measurement of individual Legco members' performance. As for the two disciplinary forces covered in this survey, there is not much change in people's support of the Hong Kong Police Force and the PLA Hong Kong garrison. A slight drop is registered for the former, while a slight increase is registered for the latter, but both are within the error margin."

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 November 10, 2005, Thursday, at 2 pm, the latest popularity figures of CE Donald Tsang and Principal Officials under the accountability system will be released. Then on November 15, 2005, Tuesday, at 2 pm, we will release the latest ratings of the top 10 Legislative Councillors.

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.