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A telephone survey was conducted from 21 to 24 January 2014 by Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies, The Chinese University of Hong Kong to study the popularity of the HKSAR Government for the month of January 2014.  760 respondents aged 18 or above were successfully interviewed, with a response rate of 45.6%.  The sampling error is + or – 3.55% at a confidence level of 95%.  

Major findings are summarized as follows: 

Satisfaction with the HKSAR Government.  According to the survey of January 2014, while 39.3% of respondents expressed dissatisfaction with the HKSAR Government, 22.5% said they were satisfied.  37.8% of 760 respondents answered ‘in-between’.  The corresponding figures in December 2013 were 45.5%, 15.8%, and 38.2%.  

Rating of Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying.  The current survey showed that the performance rating of Chief Executive (with a point scale ranging from 0 to 100 while 50 as a passing mark) stood at 46.1 in average and it was 42.1 last month.

Ratings of Three Secretaries.  The ratings of Chief Secretary for Administration (Carrie Lam), Financial Secretary (John Tsang), and Secretary for Justice (Rimsky Yuen) in January 2014 were 59.1, 58.2, and 51.5 respectively.  The corresponding figures in December 2013 were 58.4, 56.2, and 50.4.  

Overall Rating of the HKSAR Governing Team (including politically-appointed officials).  The overall rating of the HKSAR governing team was 47.4 in January 2014.  The rating in December 2013 was 44.0. 

Trust in the HKSAR and the Central Governments.  25.3% of respondents showed trust in the HKSAR government and 34.6% expressed distrust.  38.9% answered ‘in-between’.  The results of December 2013 were 21.5%, 38.5%, and 39.2% respectively.  Concerning the level of trust in the Central Government, while 37.2% said they did not trust the Central Government, 22.4% answered the opposite.  38.9% said ‘in-between’.  The corresponding figures in the previous month were 36.4%, 22.7%, and 38.2% respectively. 

Views on 2014 Policy Address.  In the survey, the respondents were also asked about their views on the 2014 Policy Address.  While 22.0% of them felt the new Policy Address satisfactory, more than one-third (35.3%) showed dissatisfaction.  40.8% answered ‘in-between’.  The overall rating of the 2014 Policy Address was 47.5, which is lower than the passing mark of 50.  Concerning the subjective perception of its usefulness to boost government’s popularity, 30.9% of the respondents thought it helpful, 32.8% believed otherwise, and 33.6% said ‘in-between’.  Being asked if the current shape of the 2014 Policy Address was better or worse than their expectation, 12.0% of the respondents said it was better, 29.1% thought it worse, and 48.4% answered ‘the same/ no change’.  8.0% told that they had had no expectation on the new Policy Address in the first place.