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Favourability of presidential candidates.

In a poll by Gallup Korea about presidential candidate preferences, Kim Jin-tae, lawmaker with the Liberty Korea Party, had 1% support, in the first poll result since Kim announced his presidential bid on Mar. 14. In terms of favorability, South Gyeongsang Province Governor Hong Joon-pyo was rated the least favorable.

In a public opinion poll carried out by Gallup Korea on 1,004 adults around South Korea from Mar. 14 to 16, former Minjoo Party leader Moon Jae-in was the most preferred presidential candidate at 33%, up one percentage point from the previous week. South Chungcheong Province Governor Ahn Hee-jung was in second place with 18% and former People’s Party former leader Ahn Cheol-soo was in third with 10%, both of whom were also one percentage point higher than the week before. Seongnam Mayor Lee Jae-myung remained at 8%, the same level as the previous week, while Hong Joon-pyo was at 2%, up 1 percentage point. Justice Party Leader Shim Sang-jung polled at 1%, the same as Kim Jin-tae. Prime Minister and acting president Hwang Kyo-ahn, who announced that he would not run for president on Mar. 15, while the poll was underway, came in at 7%. The poll results partially reflect Hwang’s decision not to run. Gallup Korea’s preference poll for presidential candidates is not multiple choice, asking respondents to choose from a list of likely candidates, but rather fill-in-the-blank, asking respondents to say who they think would make the best president.

When respondents were asked whether had a favorable or unfavorable view of candidates, Hong Joon-pyo was the most unfavorable by an overwhelming margin of 81%, with a favorability rating of 12%. Bareun Party lawmaker Yoo Seong-min had the second highest unfavorability (69%), followed by a tie for third between Ahn Cheol-soo and Shim Sang-jung (57%). Moon Jae-in had similar ratings for favorability (47%) and unfavorability (50%). Ahn Hee-jung was the only candidate who had a higher favorability rating (56%) than unfavorability (37%). The favorability survey covered eight presidential candidates, not including Kim Jin-tae.

In terms of party support, the Minjoo Party retained a firm lead of 46%, up three percentage points from the previous week, while the People’s Party and the Liberty Korea Party were both up one percentage point from the previous week to 12%. The Justice Party also posted a one percentage point gain to 5%, while the Bareun Party slipped one percentage point to 4%.

The poll was carried out by human researchers who called randomly selected mobile phone numbers. It had a sample error of 95% with a reliability of ±3.1 percentage points.

By Kim Tae-gyu, staff reporter

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