CY Leung's popularity hits record low 'as society becomes more polarised'

Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying's popularity sank to a record low as distrust in his government rose to an 11-month high in a poll released yesterday.

In the latest Chinese University poll, 43.3 per cent of respondents said they did not trust the government - the most since November last year when 43.8 per cent said they had no trust in the government. A September poll put that figure at 39.6 per cent.

For performance, Leung scored 38.6, on a scale of 0 to 100, with 50 seen as a passing grade. It was the lowest since he won the chief executive election in March 2012, when his score was 53.6. His score has fallen steadily to 41.4 last month, from 47.1 in April.

Some 804 people were interviewed for the poll from Tuesday to Thursday last week. The university's Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies tracks monthly changes in public approval of Leung and his government's performance.

The poll also found that more people said they trusted the government: 23.9 per cent in the latest survey, up from 21.6 per cent last month. The percentage was 18.6 per cent in October last year. Those who didn't trust the government went from 43.7 per cent in October last year to 43.3 per cent in the latest survey.

"The findings indicate society is getting more polarised," said Dr Victor Zheng Wan-tai, a research fellow at the institute.