hankyoreh

Opinions on the next presidential election

Moon Jae-in has the highest support rating among potential contenders in the 2017 presidential race, a May 11 poll found. The poll was conducted by the Hankyoreh Institute for Social Policy to mark the 27th anniversary of the Hankyoreh’s founding.

The New Politics Alliance for Democracy leader ranked first with 14.5% of votes, followed by ruling Saenuri Party leader Kim Moo-sung with 12.5% and Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon with 8.0%.

With the election still two years and seven months away and no clear candidates yet emerging on either side, 35.2% of respondents said they were “not sure” who they would support.

Moon enjoyed relatively strong support in the greater Seoul area (15.4%) and the Jeolla Provinces (16.8%), while Kim benefited from high scores in Busan/Ulsan/South Gyeongsang Province (15.9%) and Daegu/North Gyeongsang Province (21.3%). Both finished with an identical 12.3% rating in the Chungcheong region.

Notably, Moon trailed Kim by 3.7 percentage points in the Busan/South Gyeongsang area, drawing 12.2% of votes. Previous opinion polls had Moon with stronger support than Kim in the region.

In Jeolla Province, traditionally a liberal stronghold, Park ranked first with 18.7%, followed by Moon with 16.8% and lawmaker Ahn Cheol-soo with 12.9%. The numbers suggest Moon has his work cut out for him winning over voters there.

By age group, respondents in their forties and under showed stronger support for Moon, while those fifty and older tended to support Kim.

The six potential Saenuri candidates had a combined support rating of just 24.1%, less than the percentage of respondents (33.2%) who called for “reelecting the Saenuri Party” in 2017. The low total was attributed to the lack of any clear presidential prospect from the party apart from Kim Moo-sung.

On the opposition side, Moon enjoyed a slight lead, but Park and Ahn both drew support in the 7-8% range, suggesting they could catch up.

But the four potential opposition candidates in the poll had combined support of only 33.28%, less than the 40.6% of respondents who called for “voting out the Saenuri Party” in the presidential election.

Responses of “not sure” were given by 34.2% of self-identified Saenuri supporters and 20.9% of opposition supporters, suggesting the opposition has a slight edge in unity.

By Lim Suk-kyoo, staff reporter

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