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Former Minjoo Party leader Moon Jae-in (third from the left) takes a commemorative photo with director Kim Tae-yoon at a screening of the movie “New Trial” at a movie theatre in Seoul’s Yeouido neighbourhood

Former Minjoo Party leader Moon Jae-in drew 32% of support and South Chungcheong Gov. Ahn Hee-jung 21% in a Gallup Korea survey on support for presidential candidates.

Former People’s Party leader Ahn Cheol-soo, current acting president and Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn, and Seongnam Mayor Lee Jae-myung each pulled 8% in the survey conducted for the fourth week of February.

Support for presidential candidates (Data: Gallup Korea)

The results came from a survey on support for presidential candidates among 1,006 adults questioned by Gallup between Feb. 21 and 23. Moon’s 32% was down one percentage point from last week. Ahn Hee-jung polled at 21%, down one percentage point from last week. Hwang and Ahn Cheol-soo received 8% support, each down one percentage point. Only Lee experienced an increase, polling at 8%, or three percentage points higher than last week. Righteous Party lawmaker Yoo Seong-min polled at 2%, the same as last week. 19% of respondents said they did not have a preference, did not know, or did not answer.

Results on “favorability” for major potential candidates put Ahn Hee-jung in first with 54%, followed by Moon at 47%, Lee at 39%, Ahn Cheol-soo at 33%, Yoo at 28%, and Hwang at 21%. By age group, respondents in their forties showed similar levels of positive feeling toward Moon and Ahn at 60% and 61%, respectively. In contrast, Moon polled much higher among respondents in their twenties and thirties at 59-69%, while Ahn performed better with those 50 and over at 50-66%.

For the support survey, respondents were asked who they would most like to see as the next president, while the favorability survey asked about their feelings toward individual potential candidates.

Results on party support showed similar levels to last week for the Minjoo Party with 44% and the People’s Party with 12%. The Liberty Korea Party (formerly the Saenuri Party) was down one percentage point with 10%, while the Righteous Party and Justice Party remained at the same levels as last week with 6% and 3%, respectively. 26% percent of respondents said they did not have a preference or had not yet decided.

The survey was conducted through telephone interviews of a random group selected from mobile phone random digit dialing sample frame. The margin of error was ±3.1 percentage points with a 95% confidence level. The response rate was 21%, with 1,006 responding out of 4,905 numbers called.

By Lee Kyung-mi, staff reporter

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