TAIPEI (TVBS News) — President Tsai Ing-wen prepares to leave office, and her approval ratings far exceed those of her predecessors Chen Shui-bian and Ma Ying-jeou. Japanese academic Yoshiyuki Ogasawara provided an analysis.
A TVBS poll shows that 42% of respondents are satisfied with Tsai's eight-year performance, while 46% are dissatisfied and 12% have no opinion. Tsai's approval rating far surpasses Chen's 13% (with a 69% dissatisfaction rate) and Ma's 23% (with a 58% dissatisfaction rate).
Yoshiyuki suggests that Tsai's high approval rating is one of the factors behind her party, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), securing a historic third term in the presidential election.
During their first terms, both Ma and Tsai saw fluctuating approval ratings with no significant differences. However, in their second terms, Tsai's approval rating significantly increased while Ma's plummeted.
Among the three presidents following Lee Teng-hui — Chen Shui-bian, Ma Ying-jeou, and Tsai Ing-wen — Tsai's performance has been the most successful based on poll numbers.
Yoshiyuki expressed curiosity about the future approval rating trends for Tsai's successor, Lai Ching-te.
