Taipei - A majority of Taiwan residents have more trust in US President Barack Obama than in their own president or Chinese President Hu Jintao, an opinion poll showed on Friday.

The telephone survey of 1,004 adults by the Global View monthly magazine found that only 38.6 per cent trust President Ma Ying-jeou, who lags well behind Obama's 46.1-per-cent trust rate.

While 35.4 per cent trust Tsai Ying-wen, chairwoman of Taiwan's pro-independence opposition Democratic Progressive Party, only 17.5 per cent trust Hu.

Also, 52.9 per cent said Obama was friendly towards Taiwan and 52.3 per cent believed the US was in a better position to safeguard Taiwan's interests than China.

Sixty-one per cent said they are now unsatisfied with the performance of Ma, who won a landslide victory in the March 2008 election on the platform of seeking peace with China and improving the economy.

Analysts believe Ma's ratings are down because of the government's slow response to Typhoon Marakot, which hit Taiwan on August 8 and killed nearly 700 people, and due to a high jobless rate. (dpa)