Chief Executive Tung Cheehwa is gaining in popularity among Hong Kong SAR residents with the support rate hitting 89.9 points compared with 79.3 last month, a survey conducted by Hong Kong Policy Research Institute showed on Thursday.
The figure is the highest in the past three months, the survey said.
One thousand citizens in the survey were asked about their confidence in Tung's performance.
Another poll by Public Opinion Research and Planning (PORP) of the University of Hong Kong, showed Tung's support rate slightly up after the Chief Executive announced his bid for a second term of office on December 13.
In the PORP survey, Tung's comprehensive support rate reached 53.3 points, rising 3.6 points, which is the highest record since June.
The PORP survey, which was made available yesterday, was conducted from December 17 to December 19, after Tung's announcement of his bid for a second term in office.
The 1,000 respondents gave Tung's performance an average score of 53.8 (the total score is 100), up 1.1 from in early December.
The survey also found that the satisfaction rate of residents towards the SAR government increased 1.6 percent from last month to 22.2 percent this month.
The dissatisfaction rate dropped 6.2 percent this month.
PORP on Thursday released another survey," The retrospection and forecast 2001".
It found that over 70 percent of those surveyed believed that what the government needs to tackle are economy-related problems, the figure up 15 percent compared to last year.
In sharp contrast, only 3.1 percent of the respondents said that the political system needs improving.
Meanwhile, the survey revealed that close to 45 percent of those polled expressed their wish that Hong Kong's economy could bounce back.
About 40 percent of those surveyed regarded their life this year to have been "happy" or "very happy", with 25 percent feeling "unhappy".
On the other hand, the survey also pointed out that residents lack confidence in the revival of the local economy.
Only 27 percent believed that Hong Kong's economy will get better next year, down by 25 percent over the same period last year.
Close to 36 percent said the economic situation is getting worse, up by 25 percent compared to last year.
(China Daily HK Edition December 28, 2001)
