Hong Kong public opinion now split equally on 2017 reform, rolling poll shows
Rise in public opposition to government's 2017 poll proposal the result of Beijing's refusal to offer any concessions, argue pan-democrats
In what the pan-democrats describe as a "golden crossing", supporters and opponents of the government's blueprint for the 2017 chief executive election are for the first time exactly matched in the latest rolling poll by three universities.
Pan-democrats attributed the results - released a week before the controversial electoral package is presented to the legislature - to the hard line taken by Beijing officials in ruling out any concessions to the reform plan. And pro-establishment figures said the government's publicity blitz had failed to galvanise support.
The latest round of the survey, conducted between Tuesday and Saturday last week by the University of Hong Kong, Chinese University and Polytechnic University, shows that opposition to the package increased by 1.2 percentage points to 42.8 per cent, the highest since polling began on April 23.
That figure was the same as the proportion expressing support, which dropped 0.9 of a percentage point, compared with the last poll, conducted between June 1 and Friday. Some 14.5 per cent of the 1,118 respondents said they were undecided. The survey had a sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
Amid the likelihood of the reform being voted down, Lau Siu-kai, vice-chairman of the National Association of Study on Hong Kong and Macau, predicted Beijing authorities would further consolidate the power of the pro-establishment camp in order to weaken the influence of pan-democrats.
Beijing, he said, could "more proactively intervene in all aspects of Hong Kong's affairs" and interpret the Basic Law more often and without hesitation.
Commenting on the poll results, Civic Party leader Alan Leong Kah-kit said they were "clear evidence" of the government's "futile" attempt to cheat Hongkongers into believing the proposal would take the city forward.