DISILLUSIONMENT:About 70 percent of respondents polled do not have faith in the judicial system. President Ma’s approval rating also dipped 6.3 points to 14.8 percent
By Chris Wang / Staff reporter
A public opinion poll released yesterday showed most people do not trust lawmakers and law enforcement officials, and believe that not even a change of administration would change the situation.
Asked whether the judiciary is able to safeguard social justice and fairness, 69.1 percent of respondents said no, while only 17 percent said yes and 13.9 percent did not give an answer, the poll by Taiwan Indicators Survey Research showed.
The survey also found that 58.7 percent did not think law enforcement officials — including police, prosecutors and Investigation Bureau agents — enforced the law fairly, while 30.6 percent thought they did and 10.8 percent gave no answer.
Most respondents appeared to have given up on having a respectable judicial system, with 78.8 percent saying they did not believe there would ever be an independent judicial system in Taiwan, regardless of whether the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) or the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is in power.
As for the Legislative Yuan, most respondents appeared suspicious of lawmakers’ motives and interests.
Asked about KMT lawmakers, 24.6 percent of respondents said they work for the interests of their own families and factions, followed by corporates and specific interest groups at 23.6 percent and the KMT at 21.5 percent. Only 6.9 percent said KMT lawmakers have the interests of all people in mind and 6 percent said they work for their constituencies.
Trust in DPP lawmakers was also low, but respondents’ view on whose interests they uphold varies slightly. Working for the interests of their own families and factions also ranked first at 24.9 percent, followed by the DPP at 24.4 percent. However, only 8 percent linked DPP lawmakers with corporations and specific interest groups, while 14.9 percent believed they had the public interest in mind.
Meanwhile, President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) approval rating plunged again after showing signs of life last month.
Ma had an approval rating of 14.8 percent, down 6.3 percentage points from the poll last month, and a disapproval rating of 74.3 percent, up 7.1 percentage points from last month.
Asked if Ma could crack down on corruption and build a clean government, 73.8 percent of respondents said he would not be able to do that.
Ma’s latest credibility rating was 18 percent, with 66.5 percent of those who took part in the poll saying they did not find Ma trustworthy.
Premier Jiang Yi-huah’s (江宜樺) approval rating also dropped to 15.6 percent, 3.7 percentage points lower from the previous poll.
The survey, conducted on Wednesday and Thursday last week, collected 1,008 valid samples and had a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points.