Thanks to this policy the people of southern Taiwan came to feel proud of Kaohsiung. Both as a major port city and an illustrious ancestral hometown, Kaohsiung became a better environment to live in. Under Hsieh's leadership, Kaohsiung's citizens deepened their identification with their city, which lost its some of its rough edges and became palpably gentler. Given his popularity, Hsieh's appointment to the premiership came as no surprise.
期間，謝長廷以「市民主義」為主軸的施政，塑造了令南部民眾引以為傲的高雄經驗，無論是海洋首都、光的故鄉，都成功地改善了生活環境，市民認同因而強化，剛性線條的高雄在他的手中增添了柔性的質感，民調支持度一路看好之下，此番轉戰中央並不令人意外。