Public Support for a Single Opposition Candidate: Ahn Cheol-soo 35.9%, Yoon Seok-youl 32.5%

[경향신문]

On January 10, a poll on the presidential race showed that Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party of Korea, was ahead of Yoon Seok-youl, the People Power Party candidate, with a lead that was bigger than the margin of error. Support for Ahn Cheol-soo, the People’s Party candidate also continued to climb recording 11.1%.

Realmeter, upon request from OhmyNews, conducted a survey of 3,042 people on January 2-7, and the result showed that 40.1% of the respondents supported Lee Jae-myung, a drop of 0.8% from a survey conducted by the same firm a week before.

Yoon obtained the support of 34.1% of the people, down 5.1% from the previous week.

Bae Cheol-ho, an analyst at Realmeter said, “The people’s response from when conflicts inside the People Power Party peaked was reflected in the support for Yoon, yet Lee’s efforts to promote his policies did not lead to an increase in his support, which showed little change.”

Ahn Cheol-soo earned 4.5% more support to reach 11.1%. This was the first time that support for Ahn recorded a double-digit figure in a poll conducted by Realmeter.

Sim Sang-jeung earned the support of 2.8% of the respondents, while 6.8% of the respondents said they had no candidate they supported; 3.0% supported other candidates; and 2.0% either answered they did not know or did not answer at all.

When asked, “If Yoon Seok-youl and Ahn Cheol-soo decide to unite under one candidate, who should that single candidate be?” 35.9% of the respondents chose Ahn Cheol-soo. Yoon was chosen by 32.5% of the people, showing that the race was close, within the margin of error.

As for the approval ratings of President Moon Jae-in’s handling of state affairs, 53.6% answered that the president performed poorly, down 2.5% from the previous week, and 42.5% answered, he was doing a “good job,” up 2.1%.

As for the political parties, 34.6% of the people supported the People Power Party, 33.6% the Democratic Party of Korea, 8.7% the People’s Party, 5.2% the Open Democratic Party, and 3.4% the Justice Party.

The latest poll had a confidence level of 95% with a ±1.8% margin of error. For more details, please refer to the National Election Survey Deliberation Commission website.