TAIWAN: The country's main presidential candidates look to lure support from first-time voters who have a clear priority of jobs and wages over cross-strait issues

Record ID: 327685

  • Title: TAIWAN: The country's main presidential candidates look to lure support from first-time voters who have a clear priority of jobs and wages over cross-strait issues
  • Date: 10th January 2012
  • Summary: TAIPEI, TAIWAN (RECENT - JANUARY 4, 2012) (REUTERS) **CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY** SUPPORTERS OF TSAI ING-WEN CHANTING SLOGANS: "BUY YOUR TRAIN TICKETS TO GO TO VOTE" A DPP (DEMOCRATIC PROGRESSIVE PARTY) OFFICIAL LEADING THE CHEER: "WE NEED YOU ON JANUARY 14TH" YOUNG GIRLS CHANTING: "BUY YOUR TRAIN TICKETS TO GO TO VOTE" YOUNG GIRLS CHANTING: "WE NEED YOU ON JANUARY 14TH" GROUP CHEERING FOR TSAI ING-WEN TAIPEI, TAIWAN (RECENT - JANUARY 2, 2012) (REUTERS) HEAD OF THE FIRST VOTERS' NATIONAL POLICY OBSERVATION GROUP, CHEN YI-CHIH CHEN READING DOCUMENTS THE DOCUMENT ON THE TABLE (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) HEAD OF THE FIRST VOTERS' NATIONAL POLICY OBSERVATION GROUP, CHEN YI-CHIH, SAYING: "It does not matter whether the cross-strait relationship is good or bad, the most important thing is that when I cannot feed myself, why should I care about how good the cross-strait relationship is? The current government only talks about the cross-strait relation, but ignores the daily lives of the ordinary people, and whether they are doing their best to improve our lives. This is the most important question we want to raise to the three candidates' attention." VARIOUS OF STUDENTS WALKING ON UNIVERSITY CAMPUS NATIONAL TAIWAN UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE PROFESSOR AND CHAIR, WANG YEH-LIH, IN OFFICE (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) NATIONAL TAIWAN UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE PROFESSOR AND CHAIR, WANG YEH-LIH, SAYING: "If there are approximately ten percent of median voters that can still be influenced, a good majority would be the first voters, because they do not have a set identification with the parties. They become an obvious target for the two major camps who wish to derive the most number of potential votes from them. To understand these voters' voting behaviour or try to attract their support could be, in my opinion, a key winning factor in this presidential election." TAIPEI, TAIWAN (JANUARY 8, 2012) (REUTERS) MAN AND WOMAN IN WEDDING DRESS ENTERING NEWS CONFERENCE MAN AND WOMAN TAKING VOWS MOCK PRIEST SPEAKING TO THE MAN AND WOMAN (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) 20-YEAR-OLD STUDENT HSU YIH-TING SAYING: "To host this wedding is express the analogy that marrying a good husband is much like voting for a good candidate -- they are both very important decisions. We wish the candidates can take Taiwan to a better future." (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) 26-YEAR-OLD STUDENT TSAI JEN-FU SAYING: "Most of my classmates, even after they have started working for a while, find it impossible to afford a house within a short period of time. We are no longer like the young people in the past, when they could tell their parents that they bought a house after working for five to six years, and prepare to get married. To buy a house on our own is a very difficult thing for us now."
  • Embargoed: 25th January 2012 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Taiwan, Province of China
  • Country: Taiwan
  • Topics: Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA2QLCI1148I74AN5JKNXC1PR85
  • Story Text: Taiwan's main presidential candidates look to lure support from first-time voters who have a clear priority of jobs and wages over cross-strait issues.
    Taiwan's upcoming presidential election that will determine whether China and Taiwan are headed for warmer relations or a period of potentially explosive tension, may be decided by a bloc of voters who could not care less about the state of affairs across the Taiwan Strait.
    A rally with puppets dancing to techno music, or an evening campaign to distribute pamphlets by young girls in the shopping district -- Taiwan's political parties are putting it all out to attract the youth vote.
    "First Voters" or young people from age 20 to 24 who have yet to express a political opinion by casting a presidential vote, are a critical constituency in Taiwan's presidential election on Saturday (January 14), and the 768,000 of them have a message for the candidates seeking their support: we want more on jobs and wages and less about ties with Beijing.
    "It does not matter whether the cross-strait relationship is good or bad, the most important thing is that when I cannot feed myself, why should I care about how good the cross-strait relationship is? The current government only talks about the cross-strait relation, but ignores the daily lives of the ordinary people, and whether they are doing their best to improve our lives. This is the most important question we want to raise to the three candidates' attention," said Chen Yi-chih, head of the FIrst Voters' National Policy Observation Group.
    Political debate in Taiwan has traditionally been dominated by the question of Taiwan's identity and relations with rival China, which sees the self-ruled island as a renegade province that should be reunited with the mainland by force if necessary.
    But the younger generation is less interested in issues of national identity than their parents, and become irritated when politicians focus on that instead of more immediate problems: low wages, a weak job market and expensive housing.
    In a survey of 1,377 students conducted by Chen's group, more than 77 percent of young people think the government could do more to improve the problems of unemployment and low wages. And as of the December 28, when the survey was released, 34.5 percent of the young voters had not yet decided who to vote for.
    The power of the young voters is especially significant as the two major candidates are running a tight race.
    With opinion polls showing only a few percentage points separating the two candidates, incumbent Nationalist Party President Ma Ying-jeou and opposition Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) Tsai Ing-wen will need to court the youth vote.
    "If there are approximately ten percent of median voters that can still be influenced, a good majority would be the first voters, because they do not have a set identification with the parties. They become an obvious target for the two major camps who wish to derive the most number of potential votes from them. To understand these voters' voting behaviour or try to attract their support could be, in my opinion, a key winning factor in this presidential election," said Wang Yeh-lih, National Taiwan University Department of Political Science Professor and Chair.
    At a news conference recreated as a mock wedding, two students dressed as the bride and the groom vowed to cast their first vote to express love for the country.
    Twenty-year-old Hsu Yih-ting of the FIrst Voters' National Policy Observation Group said she hopes young people would understand the importance of choosing the right candidate is no less than choosing a life partner.
    "To host this wedding is express the analogy that marrying a good husband is much like voting for a good candidate -- they are both very important decisions. We wish the candidates can take Taiwan to a better future," said the Chinese literature student.
    And 26-year-old Tsai Jen-fu, who studies medicine, said his at the current wage level and rate of unemployment, his generation struggles to earn enough money to start a family.
    "Most of my classmates, even after they have started working for a while, find it impossible to afford a house within a short period of time. We are no longer like the young people in the past, when they could tell their parents that they bought a house after working for five to six years, and prepare to get married. To buy a house on our own is a very difficult thing for us now," he said.
    At close to thirteen percent, unemployment among 20 to 24 year olds is well ahead of the overall jobless rate of just over four percent in 2011.
    And the average starting salary for college graduates is around T$24,000 ($798) a month, only just above the legal minimum wage of T$17,880. Average house prices, meanwhile, reached 11 times average income last year.
    Thus far, neither party has been particularly effective at courting the youth vote.
    The DPP was able to seize the early initiative in campaigning by attacking Ma's economic record and proposing policies that focused on job creation, building the domestic economy and a fair distribution of resources.
    Ma, in response, pledged to put the economy first if reelected, promising higher incomes and measures to keep property prices affordable. He has sought out industry leaders for advice on economic policy during the current downturn.
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