Newsweek
Date: 10/15/20
By: John Feng

Nearly 60 percent of Taiwanese polled in a recent survey said they distrusted Donald Trump, but a majority of respondents believed his re-election would benefit Taiwan more than a Joe Biden victory.

The U.S. incumbent president was also the public's top pick to win the upcoming elections: 49.1 percent backed him, while just 23.7 percent thought the Democratic candidate could limit Trump's White House stay to just one term.

September polling done by Taiwanese news site Formosa and current affairs magazine Global Views Monthly focused heavily on President Tsai Ing-wen's plans to ease rules on beef and pork imports from the United States, but also included staple questions on cross-strait tensions.

Formosa surveyed 1,070 individuals over the age of 20—Taiwan's legal voting age—using computer-assisted telephone interviewing between September 23 and 24. Global Views Monthly had a sample size of 1,102, conducted using identical methodology between September 17 and 20.

Cross-strait conflict

In the event of all-out war between Taiwan and China, only 22.3 percent of Global Views Monthly's respondents hoped for U.S. intervention. A majority—54.2 percent—would opt for peace talks with Beijing.    [FULL  STORY]