TAIPEI (TVBS News) — A recent poll reveals that nearly half of Taiwanese citizens approve of President Lai Ching-te's (賴清德) handling of national affairs.
The Taiwan Public Opinion Foundation (TPOF) released survey results on Tuesday (June 18), showing that 48% of respondents support President Lai, while 26% disapprove, 18% hold no opinion, and 8.3% remain unsure.
Foundation Chairman Michael You (游盈隆) expressed concern over the significant support loss for President Lai, who took office less than a month ago. He pointed out that losing is a warning to the president.
Further breakdown of the poll results shows that 19.6% of respondents strongly support President Lai, 28.6% somewhat support him, 16.1% somewhat disapprove, 9.5% strongly disapprove, 17% hold no opinion, and 8.4% are unsure or refused to answer.
Despite the support loss, You noted that President Lai remains in a comfort zone. His Presidential Job Disapproval Rating stands at 25.6%, so Lai is not feeling immediate pressure.
Compared to last month, support for President Lai's handling of national affairs has decreased significantly by 9.8 percentage points, with a slight 0.2 percentage point increase in disapproval.
You said that although Lai still leads by 22.6 percentage points, the gap has narrowed by ten percentage points compared to last month.
He emphasized the worrying shift, explaining that in Taiwan, one percentage point represents 195,000 people, and ten percentage points represent nearly 2 million people.
The TPOF-funded poll was conducted from June 11-13 and targeted adults aged 20 and over nationwide.
The sampling method used landline and mobile phone numbers, with landlines making up 70% and mobiles 30% of the sample. The effective sample size was 1,070 people, with a margin of error of about plus or minus three percentage points at a 95% confidence level.
