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


Press Release on May 2, 2007
 

| Special Announcement | Latest Figures | Commentary | News about POP | About HKUPOP |
| Detailed Findings (Rating of Top Ten Legislative Councillors) |

Special Announcement
 

The Public Opinion Programme (POP) at the University of Hong Kong in conjunction with other organizations will officially launch the 「West Kowloon and Harbour-Front Public Opinion Platform」 tomorrow, May 3, Thursday, 11am at Pacific Place Conference, 5/F, One Pacific Place, Queensway. The concept and operation of the Platform will be explained. All journalists are welcome to attend. The main purpose of the Platform is to conduct consultation of the people by the people for the people. As of today, the Platform is already up and running on an experimental basis at the POP SITE (http://hkupop.pori.hk). Members of the public are welcome to try it before it is officially launched. For enquires, please call 2297-2878.

 
Latest Figures
 

The latest popularity figures of the Top 10 Legislative Councillors released by POP at the POP Site today have already been weighted according to provisional figures obtained from the Census and Statistics Department regarding the gender-age distribution of the Hong Kong population in 2006 year-end. Herewith the contact information for the latest survey:


 Date of survey  Overall sample size   Response rate   Sampling error of percentages* 
 2-10/4/2007 
(First stage naming survey)
 1,009   60.6%   +/- 3% 
 17-20/4/2007 
(Second stage rating survey)
 1,011   62.7%   +/- 1.6% 
* Calculated at 95% confidence level using full sample size. 「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. Questions using only sub-samples would have bigger sample error. Sampling errors of ratings are calculated according to the distribution of the scores collected.
 
 

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 early-April. 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 Selina Chow 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 mid-April, 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; the remaining 10 were then ranked according to their support ratings attained to become the top 10 Legislative Councillors. For easy reference, the POP Site has already displayed the results of all naming surveys conducted since the year 1998. Recent ratings of top 10 Legislative Councillors are summarized below:

  Date of survey  18-21/4/06   14-21/7/06   23-27/10/06   22-26/1/07   17-20/4/07   Latest change 
  Sample base  1,015   1,006   1,010   1,020   1,011   -- 
  Overall response rate  59.5%   57.1%   59.9%   62.5%   62.7%   -- 
  Maximum sampling error of ratings (at 95% confidence level)*  +/-1.6   +/-1.8   +/-1.6   +/-1.6   +/-1.6   -- 
  Finding for each question/Sampling error*  Finding   Finding   Finding   Finding   Finding   Sampling error   -- 
  Rita Fan  65.4 [1]   62.6 [1]   63.5 [1]   63.8 [1]   69.2 [1]   +/-1.0   +5.4 
  Audrey Eu  57.6 [2]   58.0 [2]   57.0 [2]   59.0 [2]   61.1 [2]   +/-1.4   +2.1 
  Alan Leong  --   --   58.5 [**]   58.9 [**]   59.5 [3]   +/-1.4   +0.6 
  Selina Chow  56.4 [3]   57.5 [3]   55.9 [3]   57.2 [3]   58.0 [4]   +/-1.2   +0.8 
  James Tien  55.6 [4]   52.5 [4]   53.3 [5]   54.3 [4]   55.8 [5]   +/-1.0   +1.5 
  Lee Cheuk-yan  54.3 [5]   52.4 [5]   52.3 [6]   51.1 [6]   55.7 [6]   +/-1.4   +4.6 
  Albert Ho  --   --   53.9 [4]   52.7 [5]   54.8 [7]   +/-1.4   +2.1 
  Martin Lee  48.2 [8]   44.6 [7]   46.4 [9]   48.6 [8]   51.0 [8]   +/-1.6   +2.4 
  Emily Lau  48.2 [7]   43.7 [8]   48.7 [8]   48.1 [9]   49.4 [9]   +/-1.6   +1.3 
  Leung Kwok-hung  33.4 [10]   29.4 [10]   30.6 [10]   34.0 [10]   30.5 [10]   +/-1.6   -3.5 
  Chan Yuen-han  --   --   --   60.3 [**]   60.9[**]   +/-1.2   +0.6 
  Yeung Sum  --   --   --   --   53.5[**]   +/-1.4   -- 
  Jasper Tsang  50.9 [6]   48.3 [6]   49.1 [7]   50.9 [7]   --   --   -- 
  Lee Wing-tat  51.5 [**]   48.7 [**]   50.7 [**]   --   --   --   -- 
  Albert Cheng  44.5 [9]   42.7 [9]   --   --   --   --   -- 
  Tam Yiu-chung  --   51.9 [**]   --   --   --   --   -- 
  Ma Lik  51.0 [**]   --   --   --   --   --   -- 

** "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. Media can state 「sampling error of various ratings not more than +/-1.6 at 95% confidence level」 when quoting the above figures.
** 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 mid-April showed that Rita Fan was the most popularly supported councillor attaining 69.2 marks. Audrey Eu followed behind with 61.1 marks. Alan Leong, Selina Chow and James Tien occupied the 3rd to 5th ranks, with 59.5, 58.0 and 55.8 marks correspondingly. Lee Cheuk-yan, Albert Ho, Martin Lee and Emily Lau ranked 6th to 9th, scoring 55.7, 54.8, 51.0 and 49.4 marks respectively. The 10th rank fell to Leung Kwok-hung who scored 30.5 marks. The mean score obtained by the top 5 councillors was 60.7 marks, while that for the top 10 was 54.5 marks. For this latest survey, Chan Yuen-han and Yeung Sum obtained support ratings of 60.9 and 53.5 marks respectively, but they were dropped due to their relatively low recognition rates. The overall ratings ranked according to results obtained over the past 12 calendar months are tabulated as follows:

  Date of survey  14-21/7/06   23-27/10/06   22-26/1/07   17-20/4/07   No. of times on top 10   Average rating*   Overall ranking** 
  Rita Fan  62.6   63.5   63.8   69.2   4   64.8   1 
  Audrey Eu  58.0   57.0   59.0   61.1   4   58.8   2 
  Selina Chow  57.5   55.9   57.2   58.0   4   57.2   3 
  James Tien  52.5   53.3   54.3   55.8   4   54.0   4 
  Lee Cheuk-yan  52.4   52.3   51.1   55.7   4   52.9   5 
  Martin Lee  44.6   46.4   48.6   51.0   4   47.6   6 
  Emily Lau  43.7   48.7   48.1   49.4   4   47.5   7 
  Leung Kwok-hung  29.4   30.6   34.0   30.5   4   31.1   8 
  Albert Ho  --   53.9   52.7   54.8   3   53.8   9 
  Jasper Tsang  48.3   49.1   50.9   --   3   49.4   10 
  Alan Leong  --   --   --   59.5   1   59.5   11 
  Albert Cheng  42.7   --   --   --   1   42.7   12 

* 「Average rating」 is the average of all ratings obtained by Legislative Councillors over the past 12 months.
** 「Overall ranking」 is first determined by their number of times on top 10, and then their average ratings. 

The overall rankings in the past 12 months showed that eight Legislative Councillors have been on the list for four times. They are Rita Fan in the top rank achieving an average rating of 64.8 marks, Audrey Eu ranking 2nd attaining 58.8 marks, Selina Chow and James Tien who ranked 3rd and 4th with respective scores of 57.2 and 54.0 marks, Lee Cheuk-yan, Martin Lee, Emily Lau and Leung Kwok-hung at the 5th to 8th ranks, attaining 52.9, 47.6, 47.5 and 31.1 marks correspondingly. Albert Ho and Jasper Tsang occupied the 9th and 10th ranks and they were both listed for three times. Alan Leong and Albert Cheng who ranked 11th and 12th have been on the list once. 


Commentary

Robert Ting-Yiu Chung, Director of Public Opinion Programme, observed, 「Compared to three months ago, the ratings of almost all Legco members on the top 10 list have increased, most notably for Rita Fan on the top of the list, and Lee Cheuk-yan in the middle. Alan Leong, who ran for the Chief Executive election, made his way to the top 10 for the first time and displaced Jasper Tsang, who ranked 7th last time, out of the list. Over the year past, Rita Fan and Audrey Eu have consistently ranked 1st and 2nd, while Selina Chow and James Tien always remained in the top 5. Lee Cheuk-yan, Martin Lee, and Emily Lau were always on the list, usually between 6th and 9th, while Leung Kwok-hung always came last. It should be noted, however, that our list of top 10 only includes Legislative Councillors who are best known to the public, ranked according to their support ratings. Some of the other 50 councillors may well have very high or low support ratings, but because they are not the most well-known councillors, they do not appear on the "Top 10" list by design.」

News about POP

POP's normal practice is to release the results of our regular surveys every Tuesday afternoon via our POP Site, except during public holidays, each time with a forecast of the items to be released in the next 7 days. According to schedule, our next release of regular survey findings will be May 8, 2007, Tuesday, between 1pm to 2pm, when the survey results on people's most familiar political figures will be released.

Our general practice is to answer all questions on the research design of the surveys published in the POP Site as soon as we receive them, but we will not further comment on the findings. We welcome questions for follow-up purpose, please email them to us at . 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 POP, is responsible for everything posted herewith, except for column articles which represent the stand of their authors.

Since January 2006, we have included in our regular press releases a small educational section for the purpose of sharing our research experience with the readers and the general public, and the subject of our education section today is 「About HKUPOP」.

About HKUPOP

Ratings of top 10 Legislative Councillors survey

The Legislative Council is an important component of Hong Kong's constitutional system. It is hence well justified to monitor the popularity change of the Legislative Council as a whole and its members on an individual basis. HKUPOP has started this polling series since 1992. We explained the development of these surveys in our press release of November 2, 2006 and February 6, 2007. Today, we release again, so that readers can refresh such development:

  • Starting from October 1992, the surveys are conducted once every three months, without any change.

  • Our research design comprises separate naming and rating surveys in two stages. In the naming stage, in between 1992 and 1993, the wordings used in the questionnaire were "Please name up to 5 Legislative Councillors that you are most familiar with." From 1994 onwards, the wordings used in the questionnaire become "Please name up to 10 Legislative Councillors that you are most familiar with." In the rating stage, since the beginning, the question used is "Please use a scale of 0-100 to rate your extent of support to XXX, with 0 indicating absolutely not supportive, 100 indicating absolutely supportive and 50 indicating half-half. How would you rate XXX?"

  • Regarding sample size, from the beginning to March 2000, the sample size of the survey was set at slightly over 500. From May 2000 onwards, the sample size was increased to at least 1,000.

  • Our first findings of our political group surveys were published in the East Week, which was a magazine on political and economic affairs then. We later published our findings by fax. Then in 1996, HKUPOP published our newsletter POP Express, which naturally carried our findings on this topic. After our HKU POP Site was established in June 2000, we switched to an on-line mode of release since then, while all previous findings published in our POP Express were also uploaded on-line in various formats.

| Special Announcement | Latest Figures | Commentary | News about POP | About HKUPOP |
| Detailed Findings (Rating of Top Ten Legislative Councillors) |