More than 60 percent of Hong Kong residents are satisfied with Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu’s governance over the past two years, while nearly 70 percent approve of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government’s endeavors to safeguard national security, a survey has found.

The government’s efforts to tackle the housing shortage and subdivided flats also earned  the approval of over 60 percent of respondents, according to the results of the survey out on Thursday.

Among the 685 adult residents surveyed between June 6 and 16 by the Bauhinia Institute via telephone, about 63.1 percent expressed satisfaction in the governance of Lee, who took office on July 1, 2022, while 62.5 percent of the respondents believe the performance of the special administrative region government is “satisfactory”.

The scores reflect general approval of Lee’s administration during its nearly-two-year in office, said Bauhinia Institute.

The survey revealed that 66.8 percent of the respondents are satisfied with the government’s efforts in safeguarding national security, such as enacting the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance in March, with 32.4 percent expressing the highest level of approval.

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The respondents also rated the government’s performance in different policy areas, with the administration’s housing policy received the highest level of endorsement, including the introduction of “light public housing” and the establishment of a task force on improving the living environment of subdivided units.

About 17.8 percent of respondents said they were “very satisfied” and 42.7 percent said they were “satisfied” with the authorities’ housing-related work, per the survey.

The government’s initiatives to protect labor welfare, improve residents’ livelihoods, promote childbirth, and develop the innovation and technology industries all received positive feedback from over half the respondents.

Regarding labor welfare, the rolling out of the annually-reviewed minimum wage mechanism and the labor importation policies to alleviate labor shortages in specific sectors won wide support in the community, with 52 percent of residents indicating they were satisfied with the government’s relevant work.

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Over 54.8 percent of respondents said they were pleased to see government policies that benefit people’s livelihood and its endeavors to optimize the governance mechanism at district level, while about 51.5 percent of surveyed people approve the authorities’ pro-birth measures.

The government’s encouragement of innovation and technology development received a satisfied rating from 53 percent of respondents.

The survey also found that around half of people who participated in the poll agreed with the government’s effort to enhance transportation infrastructure, boost the property market and support the development of the financial market, which, according to the Bauhinia Institute, shows that the general public have great expectations for the city’s economy development, better integration into the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and enhancement of Hong Kong’s international competitiveness.

Contact the writer at stephyzhang@chinadailyhk.com