TAIPEI (AFP) — Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou's popularity has droppped to a new low amid a stock market slump and rising toll from a devastating typhoon, a survey showed Saturday.
Ma's approval rating slipped to 28 percent -- the lowest since he took office on May 20 -- in a survey of 1,048 people conducted by TVBS television news channel.
The poll was conducted Friday and results were broadcast Saturday.
It showed a fall of 13 percentage points since a poll taken last month and a two percent decline from the previous low in July.
Some 65 percent of respondents to the survey were critical of the Ma government's crisis management skills, while 21 percent approved and the remainder had no comment, TVBS said.
The figures followed a fall on Taipei's stock market of 5.39 percent to below 6,000 points this week after the collapse of the US investment bank Lehman Brothers.
Meanwhile, at least 14 people were killed and seven others went missing earlier this month as bridges, hotels and houses collapsed under the onslaught of Typhoon Sinlaku.
Ma, of the Beijing-friendly Kuomintang, won a landslide victory in March on a platform of boosting the economy, particularly through closer trade ties with China.
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