President Tsai's Second Term: Backing Medigen Vaccine Most Criticized
China Times, May 21, 2022
While coronavirus (COVID-19) infections continue to surge in Taiwan, May 20 marked President Tsai Ing-wen’s sixth anniversary in office. The Taiwan Public Opinion Foundation released its latest poll showing Tsai’s job approval rating stands at 46.2 percent, down 3.7 percent from last month. The overall job approval rating after serving six years stands at 61.55 percent. As for her second-term performance on six major government measures, the development of domestic COVID-19 vaccines ranked the highest on the job disapproval rating. Whereas the job approval rating for Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung, who heads the Central Epidemic Command Center, stands at 59.53 percent, falling below 60 percent for the first time since two and a half years ago.
Last night President Tsai posted on Facebook explaining that a democratic Taiwan is bound to have different opinions because of competition among political parties and unsettled public mood due to pandemic or natural disaster. But generally speaking, the people of Taiwan are kind, rational and united to face challenges, which will help carry the nation through thick and thin. “As the leader of the nation, I wish to express my deep appreciation to the people.”
According to the same poll, on President Tsai’s handling of national policy, 9.7 percent highly approve, 36.5 percent slightly approve, 24.7 percent slightly disapprove and 14.8 percent highly disapprove, the total disapproval rating is 6.7 percent higher than the total approval rating. As for the six major government measures, the disapproval rating is 48.5 percent for vaccine development, 44.8 percent for economic performance, 43.9 percent for judicial reform, 39.2 percent for Cross-Strait relations, 35 percent for defense matters, 33.9 percent for foreign relations.
Chairman Yu Ying-lung of Taiwan Public Opinion Foundation pointed out that President Tsai’s job approval rating stands at 46.2 percent, down 3.7 percent from last month, while job disapproval rating stands at 39.5 percent, up 3.9 percent from last month. To add them up, there is a 7.6 percent slide in one month.
Yu said that the pandemic is likely to reach its peak in the next one to two months. It is probably the most serious challenge and test to Tsai Ing-wen’s eight-year presidency, besides potential mainland Chinese invasion of Taiwan. If President Tsai fails, then the accumulated strong public support since January 2020 will soon vanish. President Tsai may even leave a negative legacy for bringing calamity to the country and the people.
Moreover, the poll also shows that 49 percent do not believe that the Tsai administration was prepared for the Omicron variant outbreak, 10.8 percent higher than believers. Even among the group from ages 25 to 34, who usually support the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), 52 percent do not believe that President Tsai was ready for Omicron. In Kaohsiung, a traditional stronghold of the DPP, 49.4 percent do not believe that President Tsai was ready.
According to Yu, in the past two years the public opinion on the performance of the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) changed rapidly. The job approval rating went down from 84.16 percent in February 2020 to 59.53 percent today. The change of rating shows the skyrocketed public opinion took a nosedive and crashed to the ground.
Yu said that the job approval rating for the CECC was down from 70.22 percent last month to 59.53 percent this month. Those who rated over 80 was down from 42.5 percent last month to 27.7 percent this month, showing that the CECC has lost 14.8 percent “fans” in one month, equivalent to 2.86 million people. In addition, those who rated below 60 was up from 17.7 percent last month to 35.3 percent this month, showing a sharp increase of 17.6 percent, equivalent to 3.4 million people.
According to Yu, the poll numbers show that the “early preventive measures” the Tsai administration often brag about has lost its powers of persuasion. The public trust of the CECC is on the brink of total collapse. To this alarming trend, the head of the Minister Chen simply replied: “All we can do is to try harder”.
From: https://www.chinatimes.com/newspapers/20220521000389-260118?chdtv