The presidential popularity rating is an important feedback mechanism in modern democracies. It not only influences the chances of reelection success, but also affects the implementation of policy initiatives. Research on presidential popularity is a well established field in American political research, but is a relatively new topic in Taiwanese political science. This article attempts to utilize publicly available panel data measuring both macro and micro variables to examine factors that affected President Chen's popularity in his first term. We found that the duration in office, the economic environment, important events, partisanship, and ethnic origin can all affect presidential popularity. We believe this research will yield even better analysis as survey data can be accumulated for multiple presidents with distinct personal traits from different partisan backgrounds.