Ethan Gutmann Helped Ko's Approval Rating Go Up|器捐案爭議 柯文哲支持度不降反升

"The Slaughter" author Ethan Gutmann left Taiwan early on the morning of Oct. 8. Gutmann. His last words to Taiwan were, "Freedom is the right to tell people what they don't want to hear." According to a new survey on the organ transplant controversy, Taipei City Mayor Ko Wen-je's, who was at center of attack in this controversy, actually saw his support rating rise, which is now sitting at 41.6 percent, above Kuomintang's Ting Shou-chung's 27.2 percent and Democratic Progressive Party's Pasuya Yao's 15.2 percent.


Ethan Guttman left Taiwan on the morning of the 8th after a controversial trip. He told the media he is completely clear about what he has done and he is willing to come back to his "old friend" Taipei. His parting words for Taiwan were a George Orwell quote, "Freedom is the right to tell people what they don't want to hear." According to the latest media poll, the organ transplant controversy has actually helped Taipei City Mayor Ko Wen-je's approval rating go up to 41.6 percent. Ko holds a sizeable lead over his opponents for mayor, Ting Shou-chung and Pasuya Yao.

It's all after the fact and difficult to say. I don't know. (Does it seem like the Guttman controversy actually helped you?) I don't know. At least it didn't hurt me.

Ko declined comment on the poll results. The controversy also seemed to help the Democratic Progressive Party's Yao, whose approval rating rose to 15.2 percent. The approval rating of the Kuomintang's Ting, who has nothing to do with the controversy, fell to 27.2 percent.

We understand that the print media outlet has its own biases. Has it really already abandoned Ting Shou-chung and switched to supporting Mayor Ko Wen-je? This is our first suspicion.

(Is the China Times poll biased towards Mayor Ko?) I don't have any comment.

Like Ko, Yao's camp and Ting declined comment on the poll results. Ting did say, however, that he regards the election as a marathon and is moving forward one step at a time and will sprint towards the finish line at the end. He also said he remains completely confident.