Should Chen Go?

It's getting tougher these days to find people with a kind word to say for Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian. With supporters of his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) disillusioned by a spate of corruption scandals involving Chen's family members and close advisers, and with the opposition calling loudly for his resignation, 64% of respondents to a TIME/CNN poll conducted last week by market-research company TNS said Chen should step down. Of those who want him out of office, 32% identified themselves as supporters of the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) party. But more than half claimed no political affiliation. And even among the DPP supporters who participated in the poll, a third said Chen should step down as well. There are still those who believe Chen ought to finish the remaining 20 months of his term. After all, there has been no evidence to tie the President directly to any wrongdoing, and the notion of circumventing democratic institutions to oust a sitting leader makes many Taiwan citizens uneasy. But the pressure on Chen is mounting. Shih Ming-teh, a former DPP chairman, has raised more than $3 million to fund a series of mass protests in front of the Presidential Building starting Sept. 9. If the demonstrations gain momentum, Chen may start to ask himself some difficult questions.