44.9% openly support independence for Taiwan's futre

According to the latest survey by the Mainland Affairs Council,

2007年海峽兩岸交流全國性意見調查結果

自己是台灣人 I am Taiwanese	自己是中國人 I am Chinese	自己是台灣人也是中國人 I am Taiwanese and Chinese	無答 No Answer
62%	14%	17.7%	6.3%
「獨立」對台灣前途比較好 Independence is better for Taiwan's future	「統一」比較好 Unification is better	「維持現狀」 Maintain the status quo	無答 No answer
44.3%	18.6%	23%	14.1%
「若現狀無法維持時，會選擇獨立或是統一？」 If there were no way to keep the status quo, would you pick independence or unification?
選擇獨立 Independence	選擇統一 Unification	維持現狀 Maintain Status-quo	無答 No answer
42%	31%	? (article doesn't say, can't find survey at MAC site)	?

If you read that rather poorly formed table correctly, then you'd notice a 44.9% support rate, today, saying independence is better for Taiwan's future! That's 10% higher than last year's figure.

Intrestingly, if some people had their hand forced today, they would apparently switch their support away from independence -- interesting.

We can compare those results to 2006, which I also blogged on ...