Taiwan Faces Sharp Rise in COVID-19 Cases... President Tsai's Approval Rating Falls Below 50%

▲Tsai Ing-wen, President of Taiwan [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Jae-hee] In Taiwan, where the spread of COVID-19 is intensifying, President Tsai Ing-wen's approval rating has significantly dropped.

On the 26th, according to Hong Kong's South China Morning Post (SCMP) and Taiwan's Liberty Times, the Taiwan Public Opinion Foundation (TPOF) announced that in a poll conducted from the 17th to the 20th targeting 1,082 voters aged 20 and above, President Tsai's approval rating fell to 45.7%.

This is the first time in 17 months since her successful re-election in January last year that President Tsai's approval rating has fallen below 50%.

Compared to her approval rating of 71.2% in May last year, it has dropped by a substantial 25.5 percentage points, meaning approximately 5 million supporters have turned away in just one year.

Yu Ying-lung, director of TPOF, stated, "The explosive spread of COVID-19 since May, two large-scale power outages on the 13th and 17th, and the scandal involving gangsters holding party positions within the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in early May appear to be the causes of the decline in President Tsai's support."

He explained that since there were no major external factors such as strained cross-strait (China and Taiwan) relations in the past month, internal factors seem to be the biggest variable pulling down President Tsai's approval rating.

Director Yu further noted that the political tailwinds President Tsai enjoyed for five months after taking office in May 2016 and for 22 months after 2019 are coming to an end, and that a third political challenge is approaching, following the nine months from November 2016 and the 20 months from November 2017.

He particularly mentioned that the decline in President Tsai's approval rating is somewhat related to the drop in support for Premier Su Tseng-chang's cabinet caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and two large-scale power outages, suggesting that the simultaneous decline in approval ratings for President Tsai and Premier Su's cabinet might accelerate the timing of the cabinet's total resignation.

Meanwhile, President Tsai posted on Facebook the previous day, stating, "Vaccines are an important weapon to prevent COVID-19," and added, "The 2 million doses purchased by the government will be supplied in June, and 10 million doses, including vaccines developed domestically in Taiwan, will be supplied by the end of August."

She explained that the extension of Level 3 epidemic prevention measures across Taiwan until the 14th of next month was "based on recommendations from many experts."

Taiwan's health authorities announced the previous day that 281 new community infection cases were reported, and an additional 261 confirmed cases not yet officially reflected in the statistics were identified.

With two confirmed imported cases, the total number of confirmed cases rose to 544, and the death toll reached six.

Accordingly, the Level 3 epidemic alert measures, which were expanded nationwide until the 28th, as well as the suspension of in-person classes and the continuation of online classes at all schools in Taiwan, will be extended until the 14th of next month.

As of the previous day, Taiwan has reported a total of 5,456 COVID-19 cases and 35 deaths.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.