Taipei, Sept. 28 (CNA) President Tsai Ing-wen's approval ratings have climbed recently due mainly to public confidence in her newly appointed premier Lai Ching-te, an analyst at Trend Survey & Research Co. said Thursday after the latest poll numbers were released.
According to the poll by the Taiwan Brain Trust (TBT) think tank, 34.6 percent of the public approve of Tsai's overall performance since she took office, while 48.7 percent are dissatisfied.
The think tank noted that Tsai's approval ratings have risen from a record low of 29.8 percent, while her disapproval ratings have dropped in its most recent national poll on the performance of the president, Cabinet and governing party.
The findings were very similar to the latest tracking poll by the Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation, which also indicated that Tsai's approval ratings have rebounded, although they are still lower than her disapproval ratings.
In August, Tsai's approval ratings dropped to the lowest level since she took office in May 2016 with an approval rating of 69.9 percent.
Wu Shih-chang, general manager of Trend Survey and Research, said it was clear that Lai's appointment as premier earlier this month had worked to help "stop the bleeding" of an otherwise disappointing administration.
In the TBT poll, 61.5 percent of the public expressed confidence in Lai's future performance, while 20.8 percent said they lacked confidence.
The satisfaction rating of his Cabinet, meanwhile, was 39.7 percent, while the dissatisfaction rating was 31.4 percent, according to the poll.
In his analysis of the poll, National Dong Hwa University professor Shih Cheng-feng said the majority of Tsai's supporters were mainly elderly people and those with lower levels of education.
People with higher education were more likely to be dissatisfied with the president's performance, Shih said.
The survey was conducted Sept. 14-15 via telephone on Taiwanese nationals 20 years or over. It collected 1,076 valid samples and had a confidence level of 95 percent.
