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The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK)’s Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies conducted a telephone survey from 6 May to 20 May 2025 to study the popularity of the Hong Kong government. The major findings include:

Satisfaction with the Hong Kong government. In the May 2025 survey, 19.4% of the respondents expressed satisfaction with the Hong Kong government, 38.2% said they were dissatisfied and 40.3% answered “in-between”. The corresponding figures from the previous survey (February 2025) were 13.5%, 43.7% and 41.0% respectively. The statistical analysis (chi-square test) shows statistically significant differences between the results for May 2025 and those for February 2025. The differences in percentage distribution between the latest findings (satisfied: 19.4%; dissatisfied: 38.2%) and those from May 2024 (satisfied: 19.7%; dissatisfied: 36.7%) were statistically insignificant.

Rating of Chief Executive John Lee. In the May 2025 survey, Chief Executive John Lee’s performance rating (on a point scale from 0 to 100, with 50 as the pass mark) stood at 46.1 on average, higher than that in February 2025 (44.2), but the mean difference was statistically insignificant. However, there were statistically significant differences between May 2025 (46.1) and May 2024 (49.9).

Ratings of three secretaries. The average performance ratings of the Chief Secretary for Administration (Chan Kwok-ki), Financial Secretary (Paul Chan) and Secretary for Justice (Paul Lam) in May 2025 were 43.2, 42.7 and 42.8 respectively. When comparing the May 2025 figures with those from February 2025 (Chief Secretary for Administration: 41.7; Financial Secretary: 38.4; Secretary for Justice: 40.6), statistically significant differences were found for the Financial Secretary. His rating in May 2025 (42.7) was statistically significantly lower than the respective figure in May 2024 (48.6), while the differences in the average ratings of the Chief Secretary for Administration and Secretary for Justice between May 2025 (43.2 and 42.8 respectively) and May 2024 (45.7 and 45.4 respectively) were statistically insignificant.

Trust in the Hong Kong government. In May 2025, 26.7% of the respondents said they trusted the Hong Kong government and 32.7% expressed distrust; 38.1% answered “in-between”. The corresponding figures for February 2025 were 21.8%, 34.1% and 42.1% respectively. There was no statistically significant difference between May 2025 and February 2025. The percentage differences between May 2025 (trust: 26.7%; distrust: 32.7%) and May 2024 (trust: 25.8%; distrust: 30.6%) were also statistically insignificant.

Trust in the Central Government. Regarding the level of trust in the Central Government in May 2025, 33.2% said they trusted it, 28.9% answered the opposite and 33.9% said “in-between”. The respective figures in February 2025 were 34.2%, 27.4% and 34.9%. There were no statistically significant differences between May 2025 and February 2025. The differences between the percentage distribution in May 2025 (trust: 33.2%; distrust: 28.9%) and May 2024 (trust: 32.6%; distrust: 29.6%) were also statistically insignificant.

In conclusion, the survey results in May 2025 indicate that the public’s satisfaction level with the Hong Kong government’s performance and its performance ratings of the Financial Secretary were significantly different from those in February 2025 (the significance test shows the differences were statistically significant), while the performance ratings of the Chief Executive, the Chief Secretary for Administration and the Secretary for Justice, the level of trust in the Hong Kong government and the level of trust in the Central Government were not significantly different from those in February 2025 (the significance test shows the difference was not statistically significant). In addition, there was a statistically significant difference in the public’s performance ratings of the Chief Executive and the Financial Secretary between May 2025 and May 2024 (the significance test shows the difference was statistically significant).

The survey employed a dual-frame sampling design that included both landline and mobile phone numbers. A total of 702 respondents aged 18 or above (landline: 136; mobile: 566) were successfully interviewed, with a response rate of 57.9% (landline: 52.5%; mobile: 59.2%). The sampling error for the sample size of 702 is estimated at plus or minus 3.70 percentage points at 95% confidence level. Furthermore, the data in this survey was weighted based on the probability of the respondents being selected via dual-frame sampling design and relevant age-sex distribution of the population published by the Census and Statistics Department before analysis.