DECLINE IN TAIWAN PRESIDENT CHEN,S APPROVAL RATING

UNCLAS TAIPEI 000007 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV TW SUBJECT: DECLINE IN TAIWAN PRESIDENT CHEN,S APPROVAL RATING ¶1. Recent Taiwan public opinion polls by TVBS, ERA, United Daily News, and Commonwealth magazine indicate President Chen Shui-bian,s approval rating reached record lows at the end of 2005: -- TVBS: A TVBS (Blue-leaning) poll released December 15, two weeks after the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) badly lost the year-end local elections, showed President Chen,s approval rating at 10 percent, a decline of 18 percentage points from 38 percent in August 2005. The poll showed Chen with the lowest approval rating of nine major political figures -- Ma Ying-jeou (80 percent),Su Tseng-chang (62),Wang Jin-pyng (55),Yu Shyi-kun (41), SIPDIS Annette Lu (33),James Soong (28),Frank Hsieh (23),Lee Teng-hui (22),and Chen Shui-bian (10). -- ERA (Niandai): A poll by ERA (generally considered politically neutral) also released December 15 showed Ma Ying-jeou at the top and President Chen at the bottom in a poll of eight major political figures. In order of their "trustworthiness," they were Ma Ying-jeou (73 percent),Su Tseng-chang (61),Annette Lu (54),Yu Shyi-kun (48),Wang SIPDIS Jin-pyng (48),Frank Hsieh (32),James Soong (27),and Chen Shui-bian (26). -- United Daily News: Polls conducted by the Blue-leaning UDN showed a similar long-term decline in approval for President Chen. A poll released on December 4 showed that Chen,s approval rating had plunged to a new low of 21 percent. This continued the decline in Chen,s approval rating from 38 percent at the time of his second inauguration in March 2004, to 25 percent in mid-November when the &New DPP Movement8 was launched in response to several corruption scandals, to 21 percent in the wake of the December 3 local election. -- Commonwealth Magazine: A poll by the politically neutral Commonwealth magazine released on January 2 showed 44 percent of respondents see KMT chairman Ma Ying-jeou as an effective national leader compared to 4.6 percent for President Chen. PAAL