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6 Aug 2018

Survey Findings on HKSAR Government’s Popularity in July 2018 Released by Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies at CUHK

6 Aug 2018
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A telephone survey was conducted from 26 to 31 July 2018 by the Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies, The Chinese University of Hong Kong to study the popularity of the HKSAR Government.  702 respondents aged 18 or above were successfully interviewed, with a response rate of 38.5%.  The sampling error is estimated at plus or minus 3.70 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. 

Major findings are summarized as follows:

Satisfaction with the HKSAR Government.  According to the current survey, 33.0% of the 702 respondents expressed satisfaction towards the HKSAR Government, 29.3% said they were dissatisfied, and 36.9% answered ‘in-between’.  The corresponding figures for June 2018 were 32.6%, 30.1%, and 36.1%, respectively.  Statistical analysis shows that the results for July 2018 were not significantly different from those of June.  When comparing the figures with the same month last year (i.e. July 2017), it is found that the percentage of satisfaction in July 2018 (33.0%) was slightly higher than that of July 2017 (29.7%) but the difference in percentage distribution between July 2018 and July 2017 was also found to be statistically insignificant.

Rating of Chief Executive Carrie Lam.  The current survey showed that the performance rating of the Chief Executive Carrie Lam (with a point scale ranging from 0 to 100 with 50 as the passing mark) stood at 56.7 on average, whereas the rating for June was 55.5.  However, the difference was not statistically significant.  If her current rating (56.7) is compared with the rating in July 2017, the statistical significance test (t-test) indicated that the mean difference of the two months was not statistically significant.

Ratings of Three Secretaries. The ratings of Chief Secretary for Administration (Matthew Cheung), Financial Secretary (Paul Chan) and Secretary for Justice (Teresa Cheng) in July 2018 were 52.7, 42.9 and 43.6 respectively.  The corresponding figures for June were 51.0, 41.6 and 41.5.  Comparing the ratings of the three Secretaries between July 2018 and June 2018 shows that no statistically significant difference was found.  In addition, when the ratings of Chief Secretary for Administration and Financial Secretary in July 2018 were compared with the their respective figures in July 2017, no statistically significant difference were detected (since the Secretary for Justice, Teresa Cheng, was not in office in July 2017, no comparison can be made).

Trust in the HKSAR Government.  As of July 2018, 33.2% of the respondents showed trust in the HKSAR Government and 21.4% expressed distrust; 44.4% answered ‘in-between’.  The results for June 2018 were 34.0%, 22.9%, and 40.9%, respectively.  There was no statistically significant difference in trust in the HKSAR Government between July 2018 and June 2018.  When comparing the figures with those of July 2017, it is showed that the percentage of trust in the HKSAR Government in July 2018 (33.2%) was close to that of July 2017 (32.1%).  There was also no statistically significant difference found between these two months.

Trust in the Central Government.  Regarding the level of trust in the Central Government in July 2018, 24.4% said they trusted it, 36.3% answered the opposite, and 34.3% said ‘in-between’.  The respective figures from June were 21.9%, 41.0%, and 31.9%, respectively.  Statistically significant differences were not found between June 2018 and July 2018.  Also, the difference between July 2018 (Trust: 24.4%; Distrust: 36.3%) and July 2017 (Trust: 23.2%; Distrust: 40.1%) was not statistically significant.