Public support for Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen has fallen again. For the first time, fewer than half of those polled approved of how he is performing, a survey by the University of Hong Kong's public opinion programme has found.
His popularity rating, measured on a scale of 100, also dropped to his July 2003 level of around 56, when he was chief secretary and grievances against the government peaked.
The findings were released a day after Vice-President Xi Jinping called on Mr Tsang and his team to govern Hong Kong 'sensibly and reasonably', and to implement 'stable and efficient' policies.
'The continued drop of Donald Tsang's popularity shows that the rescue efforts he made in late June to early July have not been effective,' pollster Robert Chung Ting-yiu wrote in the survey report.
Mr Xi concluded his three-day visit by urging Hongkongers to unite and co-operate with the government.
'I sincerely hope people from all sectors of Hong Kong can unite and work closely with the special administrative region government, so that the SAR will be constructed even better, citizens' lives will become even better and the motherland's pearl in the orient will shine more brightly,' Mr Xi said, before leaving.