Chief executive campaign helps raise Alan Leong's public profile
Civic Party legislator Alan Leong Kah-kit has surged up the rankings of politicians best known to the public, following his chief executive election bid, according to a survey.
The study also found that the recognition level of former chief secretary Anson Chan Fang On-sang had plummeted.
The telephone poll of 1,011 respondents, conducted by the public opinion programme of the University of Hong Kong, found Mr Leong's rating had risen from 18th place to sixth.
In a survey in October, before Mr Leong announced he would run for chief executive, 6 per cent of respondents listed his name when asked which political figures they were most familiar with. The percentage rose to 17 per cent in a poll conducted between April 17 and 20, after the March 25 chief executive election.
Mrs Chan's ranking dropped from second in October, with 25 per cent of respondents listing her name, to ninth in April, with 11 per cent doing so.
University academic Robert Chung Ting-yiu, who conducted the poll, said the rise in Mr Leong's ranking was due to his participation in the chief executive election as the pan-democrats' first candidate in a contested election since the handover.
But he said the rankings reflected only how well known the politicians were with the public, not how popular they were. 'This kind of familiarity measurement is not the same as prompted ratings. In other words, those high on the list may not be the most supported figures.'