The results of a poll released by the Taiwan Thinktank yesterday showed that 89 percent of Taiwanese regard Taiwan as their homeland, while 5.7 percent say that China is their homeland.
The poll was commissioned by the think tank and conducted nationwide by Master Survey and Research Co on Wednesday and Thursday. The company questioned 1,089 people aged 20 and above and the poll has a margin of error of 3 percent.
In answer to the question: “Where are you from?” 69 percent of respondents replied that they are from Taiwan, while 24 percent said they are from the Republic of China (ROC).
A further breakdown of the respondents’ answers showed that among those who perceived themselves as pan-blue supporters, 54.4 percent said that they are from Taiwan, while 34.8 percent said they are from the ROC.
Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明), a political scientist at Soochow University, told a press conference held to publicize the poll’s results that the survey suggested that Taiwanese have high consensus on their identity.
Central Police University associate professor Tung Li-wen (董立文) said that the main public opinion in Taiwan has been “Taiwan is the ROC, the ROC is Taiwan.”
Former People First Party (PFP) legislator Liu Wen-hsiung (劉文雄), who also attended the press conference, said the poll indicated that no matter whether people favor the pan-blue camp or the pan-green camp, they have formed a consensus on identity.
“Although my parents came from China, my children and I consider ourselves Taiwanese,” Liu said.
The poll also measured the public’s support for the presidential candidates, which showed that 37.3 percent of respondents supported President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) re-election bid, and 36.1 percent supported Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), while PFP Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) received 12.6 percent support.
These results showed that January’s presidential election is continuing to be a neck-and-neck race, Hsu said.neck-and-neck race, Hsu said.
Source: Taipei Times - 2011/10/09
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