The Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute yesterday released the results of the survey, which was based off the interviews - conducted in early August - of 1,004 residents.

Lee scored a popularity rating of 54.9, up one point from the institute's last survey in July.

In response to another question, 48 percent said they were confident in Lee, 36 percent were not and 6 percent were uncertain. Significantly, 10 percent gave him the lowest score of zero. This resulted in a net approval rate of 12 percent - up seven percentage points from July's poll.

Lee has been steadily gaining popularity online as well. On Weibo, he has amassed 1.46 million followers since taking office. His condemnation of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's Taiwan visit in particular attracted 3,000 encouraging comments.

Also, 85.7 percent of the 165,000 interactions on his Facebook page were positive.

As for Lam, she scored a net approval rating of negative 60 percent in a survey conducted before her term ended in June.

The institute also released popularity figures for the SAR administration in general after interviewing 521 residents, with the net satisfaction rate coming in at 1 percent.

Younger respondents tended to rate the government lower, with over 60 percent aged between 18 and 29 saying they were not satisfied with the authorities.

The news came as a poll conducted by think tank Path of Democracy found that 40 percent believe the national security law has had a negative effect on society while 75 percent supported one country, two systems.