The popularity of Chief Executive Donald Tsang is surging faster compared to the other contestant, Alan Leong.

According to a latest poll by the Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Tsang scores higher than Leong, getting 8 out of 10 comparison benchmarks.

Between February 21 and 23, the institute interviewed 819 people through random telephone surveys to gauge the latest support level of the two contestants for the Chief Executive election.

Among the respondents, 67 percent supported Tsang to become the Chief Executive (up by 17.3 percent as compared to last month), versus Leong who managed only 18.4 percent (down by 3.6 percent).

As to the suitability in becoming the Chief Executive, Tsang scored 69.5 marks, by and large over Leong, who scored 52 marks.

Of the 10 comparison benchmarks, Tsang scored very high marks in ability (69.4 out of 100), free from corruption (71.6) and the balance of mainland and Hong Kong interests (49.6).

The result showed ever since Tsang announced his candidacy and began his election campaign, his popularity and support level continued to soar above Leong's.

Meanwhile, Tsang continued to meet Election Committee (EC) members from the construction and medical subsectors yesterday to explain his policy platform and garner their support.

After the meeting with Tsang at his office, Stanley Ho, president of Real Estate Developers Association of Hong Kong, said they were very pleased with Tsang's policy agenda.

"Mr Tsang is really doing his best for Hong Kong. On one hand, he wants to stabilize the property market and on the other, he wants to tackle the wealth gap," said Ho.

When asked to comment on Leong, Ho added: "He is no comparison with Mr Tsang who knows government operation so well with over 30 years in the service."

In the afternoon, Tsang visited the office of Hong Kong Medical Association for about an hour and exchanged views with EC members and doctors.

After the meeting, Tse Hung-hing, a council member of the association and an EC member, quoted Tsang as vowing to tackle three priority tasks in his second term, if re-elected.

They are: the wealth gap problem, constitutional reform and the healthcare financing scheme. And Tsang said he was confident that he could come up with concrete plans with the two latter tasks in his new tenure, once elected.

As for the wage disparity problem, this cannot be totally eliminated but can only be eased, he quoted Tsang as saying.

The 10 EC members from the association have all nominated Tsang earlier on, but they will conduct another poll among the industry to find out their voting intent before the polling day on March 25.