By Chris Wang / Staff reporter
A majority of respondents in a public opinion poll released yesterday said the potential collapse of government pension funds is a “major national crisis” and that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) should collaborate with the opposition to find a solution.
With several pension programs facing bankruptcy in the next decade, 74.2 percent of respondents in a Taiwan Indicator Survey Research (TISR) poll said it was a major national crisis, while only 15.2 percent disagreed.
Ma would be seen as a responsible president only if he collaborated with the opposition to resolve the crisis, 68.1 percent of the respondents said.
Among respondents who said they were Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) supporters, 64.2 percent agreed that Ma should cooperate with the opposition on the matter.
However, 19.3 percent of respondents said Ma, as a responsible national leader, should resolve the issue on his own.
If Ma did cooperate with the opposition on the pension crisis, 38.6 percent of respondents said it would boost their confidence in his ability to govern the country, while 42.1 percent said it would not change their perception and 4.4 percent said that would reduce their confidence levels in him.
Ma’s approval rating was 16.7 percent, down 0.5 percent from the TISR’s previous poll earlier this month, with 72.6 percent of respondents saying they were not satisfied with Ma’s performance. Premier Sean Chen’s approval rate was 16.2 percent.
Ma’s credibility rating was 25 percent, down 0.4 percent from the previous poll.
The poll, which was conducted between Friday and Sunday, collected 1,006 valid samples and had a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points.