Support for Hong Kong political reform plan at 47pc, says poll
Survey by three universities shows that 47pc of respondents are willing to accept election package, below Carrie Lam's 60pc claim
Fewer than half of respondents interviewed by three universities support the government proposal for the 2017 chief executive election.
The results of three separate polls commissioned by the city's major television stations fail to validate Chief Secretary Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor's claim that "about 60 per cent" of people back the government's reform package.
The latest poll - commissioned by Now TV and conducted by the three institutions - found that 47 per cent support the government proposal, while 38 per cent oppose it. The remaining 16 per cent said they were undecided.
The proposal - which must follow Beijing's stringent framework set down in August last year - would allow two or three chief executive aspirants to go forward to a popular vote if they receive majority support from a 1,200-strong nominating committee. Members will vote on those who receive at least 120 recommendations in a primary.
A demographic analysis of the poll results showed that younger and more educated respondents had a stronger preference for vetoing the reform.
A total of 1,167 respondents were polled by the University of Hong Kong, Chinese University and Polytechnic University between Thursday last week and Monday.
The rolling poll will continue until the day before the reform package is put to a vote in the Legislative Council in late June. Its margin of error is plus or minus 1.6 percentage points.
