Global Views Research has released their 2020 Taiwan Public Sentiment Trend poll results, and if any trend jumps out most, it is fear of the PRC is on the rise. There has been a sharp shift towards the DPP and away from the KMT. Impressions of China have sharply deteriorated, and people’s willingness to go work in China has also dropped significantly. Though support for unification with China has plunged to a record low on this survey, to only 4.5%, support for keeping the current status quo is up sharply, and approval of the name Republic of China is also up this year, hitting 87.3%. In short, Taiwanese are increasing worried and distrustful of Communist China. However the increase in support for indefinite status quo and the increase in support for the name ROC suggests that the increasingly threatening stance coming from the PRC is having an effect on people’s willingness to move towards name rectification (independence).
Party Approval:
DPP: 33.8%
KMT: 18%
TPP: 5.2%
NPP: 3.4%
Is the party you support:
Pan-green: 42% (25.2 in 2018)
Pan-blue: 23% (37.1 in 2018)
Neutral/NA/IDK: 34.7% (37.7 in 2018)
Have your impressions of China:
Improved: 25.9% (2018: 48.8)
Stayed the same: 25.9% (2018: 22.5)
Gotten worse: 30.7% (2018: 30.7)
IDK/NA: 17.6% (2018: 11.9)
Willingness to work abroad:
20-29 year olds: China: 32.5%, Vietnam: 28.5%
30-39 year olds: Vietnam: 23.2%, China: 20.9%
40-49 year olds: China: 17.5%, Vietnam: 17.1%
50-59 year olds: China: 20.3%, Vietnam: 18.2%
Should interactions across the Taiwan Strait be:
Increased: 63.6%
Decreased: 21.9%
IDK/NA: 14.5%
On independence, unification:
Keep status quo now, later decide: 38.1%
Declare independence: 25.5%
Status quo forever: 21.4%
Unify with China: 4.5% (down 10.2% since last year, lowest in survey history)
Do you identify as:
Taiwanese: 63.4% (2018: 60)
Both Taiwanese and Chinese: 30.2% (2018: 36.2)
Chinese: 2.8% (2018: 2)
Neither Taiwanese nor Chinese: 3.6% (2018: 1.8)
Do you approve of the name Republic of China:
Approve: 87.3% (2018: 84.6%)
Disapprove: 7.2% (2018: 11.4)
IDK/NA: 5.5% (2018: 4)
On the 2020 economy:
Will get better: 38.1% (up 4.4%)
Will get worse: 28.1% (down 11%)
