hankyoreh

By Sung Han-yong, senior staff writer

According to a March 31 phone poll by the Korea Society Opinion Institute, Park Geun-hye of the New Frontier Party (NFP) is the leading contender in December’s presidential election. 36.2% of respondents said they planned to vote for Park, followed by 17.2% for independent Ahn Chul-soo and 16.3% for Moon Jae-in of the Democratic United Party (DUP).

Next in line were Sohn Hak-kyu (DUP) with 2.4%, Chung Dong-young (DUP) with 2.1%, Rhyu Si-min (United Progressive Party) with 1.8%, Kim Moon-soo (NFP) and Lee Hoi-chang (Liberty Forward Party) with 1.6% each, Chung Mong-joon (NFP) with 1.1%, Kim Doo-kwan (DUP) with 0.4%, and Park Won-soon (current mayor of Seoul, DUP) with 0.1%.

A closer look at support for the so-called “Big Three” candidates showed responses varied according to respondents’ ages. 27.9% of those aged 19 to 29 supported Ahn, compared to 20.9% for Park and 15.1% for Moon. Among respondents in their thirties, Moon led with 29.7%, followed by Park and Ahn with 22.0% and 21.0%, respectively.

Park led among respondents in their forties a 32.1% support rate, compared to Moon’s 21.6% and Ahn‘s 17.2%, those in their fifties with 45.4% to Ahn’s 15.4% and Moon’s 8.9%, and those over sixty with 60.2% to Ahn’s 5.4% and Moon‘s 4.9%.

Park was supported by 55.4% of those with a middle school education or lower and 41.2% of those with a high school education or lower. But among those with university education, her support rating was just 28.4%, compared to 21.4% for Moon and 20.2% for Ahn, showing that most of her support comes from older and less educated voters.

Park placed first in all regions except Honam a DUP stronghold, where Ahn had 25.1% of support, followed by Moon with 19.9% and Park with 12.6%. Park has an especially strong lead in Daegu/North Gyeongsang province, a NFP stronghold, with a 55.3% support rating, compared to 13.1% for Moon and 9.1% for Ahn.

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