Pollster's Funding Drive Crosses HK$4 Million Mark

Pollster Robert Chung said on Tuesday that his new survey centre has so far received more than HK$4.1 million through a crowdfunding campaign, plus another HK$34,000 coming in as recurring monthly donations.

He formed the Public Opinion Research Institute after retiring from Hong Kong University at the start of this month and had said it will need HK$6 million for a year’s operation.

Chung revealed the details of the crowdfunding drive as his new institute announced results of its first poll. The funding, which started in late April, had a sluggish start, but the pace picked up as the extradition bill protests escalated.

The former Hong Kong University academic choked up with emotion when Chinese University political academic Ivan Choy, who was in attendance, presented the pollster with a HK$10,000 cheque.

"It's not a lot of money, but I hope people understand that nothing is free in this world. People cannot take regular, dedicated polls for granted," Choy said, as his remarks brought Chung to tears.

Choy said it was important that Chung could continue his surveys, otherwise the public wouldn't be able to know the level of popularity that Chief Executive Carrie Lam enjoyed after millions took to the streets in June to oppose the now-suspended extradition bill.

"It's only those in power that probably don't like popularity ratings," he said.

"Maybe people like [former Chief Executives] CY Leung and Tung Chee-hwa support Chung's work, because they now know that their ratings weren't the worst when they were in power," Choy said in jest.

In the poll conducted of more than a thousand people between July 2 to 8, Lam scored 33.4 out of 100 in popularity, edging up 0.6 from the last poll conducted by the Hong Kong University Public Opinion Programme in mid-June.

However, her net approval rating continues to be dismal.

Among the ministers, justice chief Teresa Cheng scored just 21.6 out of 100, the lowest mark for a Hong Kong minister in similar polls.

Another secretary linked to the extradition bill, security chief John Lee, saw his net approval rating plunge by 25 percentage points from the last survey.