TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Polls released Thursday show public opinion is divided on two proposed legal amendments that have sparked protests and clashes in the legislature.
The Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation surveyed opinions on changes to the Constitutional Court Procedure Act and Financial Planning Act proposed by the opposition KMT. The proposals would increase funding for local governments relative to the central government and raise thresholds for Constitutional Court rulings, among other things.
Constitutional Court Procedure Act
Roughly 50% of the poll’s 1,081 respondents supported the proposed changes to the Constitutional Court Procedure Act. Specifically, 16% said they were very supportive and just under 34% said they were somewhat supportive.
About 29% said they opposed the proposals. Specifically, about 14% said they were somewhat opposed, and around 15% said they were very opposed. Around 21% said they either had no opinion on the issue or did not know.
Support for the changes was strongest among KMT-aligned respondents (70% in favor vs. 15% against). DPP supporters mostly opposed the proposals (31% in favor vs. 51% against).
Younger respondents also tended to support the changes more than older ones, with 62% of 20-24 year olds expressing support versus only 23% against. The pollster also said by gender, province, ethnicity, and region, more supported the changes than opposed them without providing specific figures.
Financial Planning Act
The poll showed supporters and opponents of the proposed changes to the Financial Planning Act were about equal, at 42% each of the poll’s 1,081 respondents. Specifically, 14.7% of respondents said they were very supportive, and 27.6% said they were somewhat supportive.
Meanwhile, 21% said they were very opposed and the same percentage said they were somewhat opposed. About 15% of respondents said they did not know if they supported the changes or had no opinion.
DPP supporters tended to oppose the changes (18% in favor vs. 69% against) in larger numbers while KMT supporters were the opposite (64% in favor vs. 27% against). The highest support among any group for the changes was among TPP supporters (74% in favor vs. 22% against).
Cities led by KMT mayors tended to show greater support for the changes, including Taipei (44% in favor vs. 43% against), New Taipei (46% in favor vs. 44% against), Taoyuan (52% in favor vs. 37% against), and Taichung (44% in favor vs. 30% against). Conversely, more in cities led by DPP mayors opposed the changes, including Tainan (30% in favor vs. 48% against) and Kaohsiung (30% in favor vs. 40% against).
