Press Releases
The School of Communication of Hong Kong Baptist University announces media and netizen opinions regarding potential candidates in the Chief Executive election
The Chief Executive election to be held next March has become the focus of discussion among Internet forums and traditional media in Hong Kong.
Even though most netizens opposed Henry Tang Ying-yen and Leung Chun-ying to be elected as the Chief Executive, forum discussions that supported Leung outnumbered those that supported Tang. Among the four potential candidates, Tang had the largest number of negative news coverage.
The HongCOMM Survey at Hong Kong Baptist University collected and analyzed the public opinion regarding the four potential candidates in the Chief Executive election, on a sample of 9 major local online forums and 21 traditional mainstream media in Hong Kong from 15 October to 14 November.
The four potential candidates include: Former Chief Secretary Henry Tang
Ying-yen, Former Executive Councilor Leung Chun-ying, New People's Party chairperson Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee, and Democratic Party chairperson Albert Ho Chun-yan. The HongCOMM Survey also integrated and analyzed the public opinion regarding National People's Congress Standing Committee member Rita Fan Hsu Lai-tai, who has given up the election.
Most Netizens Oppose Tang and Leung to be Elected as Chief Executive, More Positive towards Ip
Forum discussions about the two most likely candidates, Tang and Leung, were the largest in number (see Table 1), but the opinion was generally negative, with 68.9% and 57.2% online forum discussions opposing their being elected as the Chief Executive respectively. Forum discussions that supported Leung outnumbered those that supported Tang, which was 19.4% and 6.5% respectively (see Table 2).
Although netizens discussed about Ip far less than the two most likely candidates, among them, 41% supported her to be the next Chief Executive.
Netizens discussed about Ho the least, and among them 50.9% opposed his being elected as the Chief Executive (see Table 2).
As to Fan, who declared not to join the election last week, 69.9% forum discussions opposed her being elected as the next Chief Executive, criticizing her wavering stance in regard to whether she would run for the election.
Concerning the housing policies proposed lately by Tang and Leung, including relaxing the restriction on village houses and building more public housing, 82.1% and 55.1% forum discussions opposed respectively (see Table 3), on the grounds that relaxing the restriction on village houses would allow the villagers of the New Territories to enjoy special privilege and cause unfairness in the society. They also criticized that the mass building of more public housing would lower property prices and increase government financial burden, turning Hong Kong into a welfare society. The forum discussions that supported the housing policy proposed by Leung far outnumbered those that supported Tang, being 27.6% and 4.6% respectively (see Table 3).
More Negative News Coverage about Tang than Leung
Among news reports about Tang and Leung running for the election for the Chief Executive, there were more reports on Tang (see Table 4). Most reports were neutral towards the two, while 22.1% were negative news about Tang (see Table 5); besides reporting on his affair, the media also criticized his lack of understanding of grassroot life and his lack of preparation when participating in public forums. There was less negative news about Leung (8.2%) (see Table 5), including reports about his affair and his alleged spousal abuse.
Fan, who was criticized by the media for her wavering stance in regard to whether she would run for the election and thus experienced a drop in popularity, had 31.9% negative media coverage (see Table 5).
51.3% commentaries about Tang were negative, but 60% commentaries about Leung were neutral (see Table 7).
Professor Zhao Xinshu, Director of the HongCOMM Survey said, "While Tang and Leung are both of the pro-establishment camp, most netizens are post-80s and post-90s of the pan-democratic camp. That is one reason forum discussions about the two to be generally negative." Furthermore, Zhao believed that, the extensive media coverage of Tang's affair scandals last month had sparked the netizens' criticisms towards him; Leung's responses to rumors of his affair were much quicker and clearer, which was one example that his campaign so far has been more effective. This may explain why there is less criticism directed at Leung than those directed at Tang.
The Centre for Media and Communication Research of the School of Communication, HKBU launched the HongCOMM Survey this year mainly to service professional and scientific research on public opinion through web-mining, computer-assisted web interviewing system and computer-assisted telephone interviewing.
Please refer to the attached document (20111120-Summary.doc) for the tables. For any enquiries, please contact Miss Kathy Lam at 6141 5383 or Miss Fanny Kong at 6185 3722.
HongCOMM Survey, Centre for Media and Communication Research, School of Communication, HKBU Tel﹕3411 8161/3411 8162 Fax﹕3411 8156