Lee Jae-myung (from left) Democratic Party presidential candidate Shim Sang-jeong, Justice Party presidential candidate Ahn Cheol-soo, People’s Power presidential candidate Yoon Seok-yeol, held at the Maekyung Media Center in Jung-gu, Seoul on the afternoon of the 11th for the 2022 presidential election, co-hosted by 6 broadcasters of the Korea Journalists Association. A commemorative photo is being taken prior to the start of the candidate debate. Parliamentary photojournalists
The results of a public opinion poll on the 17th showed that Yoon Seok-yeol, the presidential candidate for People’s Strength, had a higher approval rating than Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate, out of the margin of error. In the same poll just a week ago, both candidates had the same approval ratings. Candidate Yoon also surpassed Ahn Cheol-soo, the presidential candidate of the People’s Party, in terms of competitiveness and suitability to unify the opposition.
According to the National Indicators Survey (NBS) jointly conducted by public opinion polling companies Embrain Public, K-Stat Research, Korea Research, and Korea Research, from the 14th to the 16th, 1,012 men and women over 18 With a 95% sampling error ± 3.1%), the approval rate of candidate Yoon was 40% and that of candidate Lee was 31%. Ahn’s approval rating was 8%, and Justice Party presidential candidate Shim Sang-jung was 2%.
As a result, the gap between Candidate Yoon and Candidate Lee is 9 percentage points, which is outside the margin of error. Just a week ago, the approval ratings of Candidate Yoon and Lee were tied at 35%. Compared to the previous survey conducted on the 7th and 9th, Yoon’s approval rating increased by 5 percentage points and Lee’s approval rating decreased by 4 percentage points.
79% of respondents said they would continue to support the candidate they currently support, and 21% said they could change their candidate. As to the reasons for supporting each candidate, the supporters of Candidate Yoon answered ‘replacement of government (71%)’, the supporters of Lee candidate ‘qualities and abilities (41%)’, and the supporters of Candidate Ahn, ‘Because they do not want to be another candidate (28). %)’ was selected.
When asked which candidate they think would win regardless of whether they support it or not, 48% of the respondents chose Yoon and 32% chose Lee. In the previous survey, Candidate Yoon was 43% and Candidate Lee 34%. It was the first time in the previous survey that Yoon had the highest chance of winning, and the gap widened further.
As for the competitiveness of opposition party unification, Candidate Yoon (59%) greatly surpassed Candidate Ahn (24%). As for the suitability of candidates for unification of the opposition, Candidate Yoon (43%) was superior to Candidate Ahn (36%).
The number of respondents who chose ‘the theory of government judgment (50%)’ as the character of this presidential election was greater than that of ‘theory of national stability (38%)’.
For more information, visit the website of the National Election Opinion Survey Deliberation Committee.
Yoon-Joo Lee reporter misslee@hankookilbo.com
