Almost one out of every two voters is opposed to a new Constitution former President Lee Teng-hui called for to change the nation's name to the republic of Taiwan, according to a United Daily News poll.
Altogether 1,083 eligible voters were polled by the mass-circulation paper Saturday night. The results were published yesterday.
A large plurality of 49 percent of the 820 respondents told the telephone interviewers they oppose any Constitutional change to call their country Taiwan. The other 263 refused to be interviewed.
Supporters for the change account for 23 percent, the survey shows. The remaining 27 percent have indicated no opinion.
President Lee's call for the change is endorsed by 55 percent of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) supporters interviewed. A minority of 29 percent are opposed.
The change is opposed by 77 percent of the supporters of the Kuomintang and the People First Party.
A majority of 62 percent of the respondents think President Lee has to bow out of politics, the opinion shared by 85 percent of Pan-Blue supporters.
Lee's disapproval rate fell 6 percentage points over the past year, the United Daily News reported.
Opinion among the DPP supporters about Lee's continued participation in politics is almost equally divided at 43 percent for and 42 against. Asked if the change of the official title will help Taiwan in foreign relations, 25 percent of the respondents replied it would help sway international public opinion. A plurality of 34 percent, however, believe it would backfire. The rest refused to answer.
The sampling error was 3.4 percent.