Wu Den-yih’s (吳敦義) appointment as premier was not as popular as that of vice premier-designate Eric Chu (朱立倫), polls showed yesterday.
A survey conducted by the TVBS Poll Center on Monday night found that 61 percent of respondents said Chu, Taoyuan County commissioner and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) vice chairman, was suitable for his new job, while 12 percent said he was unsuitable and 27 percent did not give an opinion.
Only 40 percent of respondents said Wu was suitable, with 26 percent saying he was not suitable and 35 percent saying they did not have any preference.
Asked whether Wu would do a better job than his predecessor, outgoing Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄), 32 percent said Wu would and 6 percent said he would not. Some 36 percent said he would do equally well, and 25 percent did not give an opinion.
The poll questioned 920 adults.
Liu surprised the public by announcing on Monday that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) had accepted his resignation and that he would lead the Cabinet in resigning tomorrow to take responsibility for the government’s much-criticized response to Typhoon Morakot.
Shortly after his announcement, the Presidential Office announced the appointments of Wu and Chu.
Described by the media as a “lonely bird,” or individualist, Wu was praised by proponents as smart and ambitious, but criticized by opponents as difficult and belligerent.
A poll by the Chinese-language United Daily News (UDN), a pro-pan-blue paper, found that 53 percent of respondents supported Chu’s appointment and 41 percent said they were satisfied with the choice of Wu.
The poll also found that 54 percent of respondents were dissatisfied with the performance of Liu and 57 percent said they were glad that Liu and his Cabinet would resign.
An earlier UDN poll showed that one month into Liu’s premiership last year, his approval rating was 43 percent, with 33 percent disapproving.
Meanwhile, the resignation of Liu and his Cabinet gave Ma a boost, the new UDN poll showed. His approval rating grew from 29 percent after the typhoon to 34 percent, while his disapproval rating dropped 9 percentage points to 45 percent.
The UDN poll was conducted on Monday night and questioned 806 adults.
Source: Taipei Times 2009/09/09
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