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A telephone survey was conducted from 22 June to 29 June, 2020 by the Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies, The Chinese University of Hong Kong to study the popularity of the HKSAR Government.  A total of 707 respondents aged 18 or above were successfully interviewed, with a response rate of 35.0%.  The sampling error is estimated at plus or minus 3.69 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.

Major findings are summarised as follows:

Satisfaction with the HKSAR Government.  According to the current survey in June 2020, 13.9% of the 707 respondents expressed satisfaction towards the HKSAR Government, 66.3% said they were dissatisfied, and 19.0% answered ‘in-between’.  The corresponding figures for May 2020 were 13.0%, 67.9%, and 18.9%, respectively.  The statistical analysis shows that the results for June 2020 were insignificantly different from those of May 2020.  When comparing the figures with that from the same month last year (i.e. June 2019), it was found that the percentage of satisfaction in June 2020 (13.9%) was lower than that of June 2019 (18.4%).  But, the difference in percentage distribution between June 2020 and June 2019 was statistically insignificant.

Rating of Chief Executive Carrie Lam.  The survey in June 2020 indicated that the performance rating of Chief Executive Carrie Lam (with a point scale ranging from 0 to 100, 50 as the passing mark) stood at 24.2 on average, slightly higher than the rating for May 2020 (22.2).  The statistical significance test (t-test) shows that the mean difference between the rating in June 2020 and the rating in May 2020 was statistically insignificant.  When comparing her current rating (24.2) with that of June 2019 (37.5), the mean difference of the two months was statistically significant.

Ratings of Three Secretaries.  The ratings of the Chief Secretary for Administration (Mathew Cheung), Financial Secretary (Paul Chan) and Secretary for Justice (Teresa Cheng) in June 2020 were 25.5, 29.6 and 18.6 respectively.  The corresponding figures in May 2020 were 23.6, 27.9 and 16.6.  The comparison of the ratings of the three Secretaries between June 2020 and May 2020 shows that statistically insignificant differences were found.  When their ratings in June 2020 were compared with the respective figures in June 2019, statistically significant differences were found for all of the three Secretaries.

Trust in the HKSAR Government.  As of June 2020, 18.1% of the respondents showed trust in the HKSAR Government and 58.0% expressed distrust; 21.5% answered ‘in-between’.  The results in May 2020 were 15.6%, 60.5%, and 22.5%, respectively.  There was statistically insignificant difference being found in trust in the HKSAR Government between June 2020 and May 2020.  However, when comparing the figure in the current survey with those of June 2019, the statistically significant difference between the percentages in June 2020 (Trust: 18.1%; Distrust: 58.0%) and the percentages in June 2019 (Trust: 22.1%; Distrust: 48.9%) was observed.

Trust in the Central Government.  Regarding the level of trust in the Central Government in June 2020, 13.9% said they trusted it, 66.6% answered the opposite, and 16.6% said ‘in-between’.  The respective figures from May 2020 were 13.7%, 68.2%, and 15.8%.  Statistically insignificant difference was found between June 2020 and May 2020.  But the difference between the percentages in June 2020 (Trust: 13.9%; Distrust: 66.6%) and the percentages in June 2019 (Trust: 17.4%; Distrust: 54.7%) was found to be statistically significant.

In conclusion, the current survey results in June 2020 show that the public satisfaction level of the government performance, the performance rating of the Chief Executive, the three Secretaries, and even the trust in the SAR government and the central government were found insignificantly different from those in May 2020 (statistical significance test shows the differences are insignificant).  When compared with the same month of the previous year, except satisfaction level of the government performance , all the other popularity rating indicators in June 2020 were significantly lower than those in June 2019.