Gallopedia Highlights- Week # 118

Dated 02-08 May, 2010

This week’s report consists of 18 surveys. 2 of these are multi-country surveys while the rest are national surveys.

ASIA zone- 2 national polls:
North East Asia: Japan, Taiwan

AFRICA zone- Nil

EURO-AMERICAS zone-16 national polls and 2 Multi-Country Polls:
East Europe- Slovenia

West Europe- France, Italy

North America- U.S.A
Latin America- Brazil, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Columbia, Guatemala, Honduras, Venezuela, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Ecuador, Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay

Australasia: Australia

Subjects covered include:
Political economy

Security
Governance

Technology

Social issues/ Health and Disease

Migration

Religion

Three-in-Five Taiwanese Dissatisfied with Ma

May 06, 2010

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Many adults in Taiwan remain critical of the way Ma Ying-jeou is handling his duties, according to a poll by Global Views. 61.4 % of respondents are dissatisfied with their president’s performance, down 4.6 points since March.

In 1895, following a military defeat, China ceded Taiwan to Japan. At the end of World War II, the island was returned to Chinese control. In 1949, as Mao Zedong’s communists were gaining prominence in mainland China, Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek established the Republic of China in Taiwan.

A series of democratic reforms implemented by Taiwanese president Lee Teng-hui in the early 1990s allowed Taiwan’s residents to take part in free and fair elections. To this date, the People’s Republic of China considers Taiwan a "renegade province" and reserves the right to bring it under control.

In March 2008, Ma won the presidential election with 58.45 % of the vote as a candidate for the Kuomintang Party (KMT). Frank Hsieh of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) finished second with 41.55 %.

The KMT advocates for maintaining the status quo with the Chinese central government, while the DPP has aggressively pursued independence from Beijing.

Last month, Ma discussed the current state of relations with China, saying:

"This is a very meaningful job for Taiwan at a historic juncture. If we can contribute to peace and prosperity across the Taiwan Straits, the accomplishments would be historic…Diplomatic isolation can be handled, and we handle it well, but with economic isolation we have to be very careful. If we lose the market share in a given country it will be very difficult to get it back."

Polling Data

Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with Ma Ying-jeou’s performance as president?

	Apr. 2010	Mar. 2010	Jan. 2010
Satisfied	26.6%	23.8%	23.2%
Dissatisfied	61.4%	66.0%	66.3%

Source: Global Views
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 1,001 Taiwanese adults, conducted from Apr. 14 to Apr. 16, 2010. Margin of error is 3.1 %.

http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/view/three_in_five_taiwanese_dissatisfied_with_ma

---------------

The complete detailed weekly reports of the project can be found on theGilani Research Foundation website.