Health chief Dr Ko Wing-man still Hong Kong's most popular minister despite spat on the campaign trail
An uncharacteristic shouting match with a member of the public over electoral reform has knocked the rating of the city's most popular minister in the latest study of support for senior officials.
But despite seeing his support rate fall from 80 per cent a month ago to 74 per cent, health chief Dr Ko Wing-man remained on top in the rolling poll by the University of Hong Kong's public opinion programme.
It was Ko's lowest rating since November, when only 73.2 per cent of people questioned supported Ko.
The poll was conducted between Monday and Friday last week. It asked 1,003 people to rate the performance of Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying and his principal officials.
It came immediately after the incident on May 2 when the normally placid Ko was caught on camera berating an elderly man who came up to him on a Ngau Tau Kok estate while Ko was promoting the government's controversial political reform plans.
The man criticised the reform package for the 2017 chief executive election, then turned away after making his point.
Ko went after him in full view of the watching media and continued the argument before stalking off and saying: "That's all".
Ko would later admit that he "lost control of his emotions" and had to brush up on his communication skills.
But he remained by far the most popular of the 12 bureau chiefs, ahead of labour minister Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, whose support rate was 45 per cent.
The worst performers were education chief Eddie Ng Hak-kim and development minister Paul Chan Mo-po, who both scored 19 per cent.
Among the four most senior officials, Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah scored highest, with a rating of 58.2 marks on a scale of 0-100, ahead of Chief Secretary Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor on 57.4 and justice chief Rimsky Yuen Kwok-keung, who scored 50.1
The chief executive's score fell slightly to 43.2 out of 100, from 44.5 a month ago.
