'The Ahn Cheol-soo Effect' Boosts Approval Ratings... People's Party Cancels Trip to Daegu

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Chun-han] Ahn Cheol-soo, leader of the People’s Party, saw a rebound in party approval ratings due to his medical volunteer work related to the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19). After returning to Korea last January, Ahn had not shown much presence, but during the COVID-19 crisis, he chose to go to Daegu as a doctor rather than a politician, creating a considerable impact. The People’s Party planned to hold an executive meeting in Daegu on the 6th but canceled it for safety reasons.

Lee Seung-hoon, spokesperson for the People’s Party, said in a phone interview with Asia Economy on the same day, “Internally, it was decided to communicate as much as possible via video calls or phone,” and “Considering safety and various other aspects, it was judged better not to go.” Originally, the People’s Party intended to hold a closed executive meeting in Daegu to maintain close communication with Ahn Cheol-soo, who is continuing his medical volunteer work.

According to a survey conducted by Realmeter commissioned by tbs from the 2nd to the 4th, targeting 1,516 voters aged 18 and over nationwide (response rate 5.1%, margin of error ±2.5 percentage points at a 95% confidence level), the People’s Party’s approval rating rose by 2.9 percentage points from the previous week to 4.6%. The People’s Party saw increases in support in Seoul, among people in their 20s and 30s, progressives and moderates, and students. The Democratic Party of Korea recorded 42.9%, up 1.9 percentage points from the previous week, while the United Future Party dropped 1.2 percentage points to 29.8%. The Justice Party and the Minsheng Party recorded 4.3% and 4.0%, respectively. For more details, refer to the Central Election Survey Deliberation Commission website.

The People’s Party, which declared it would not field candidates in constituencies, is breathing a sigh of relief at the rise in approval ratings. If the party vote share does not exceed 3%, it will not gain even one proportional representation seat. Until now, the People’s Party’s approval rating had stagnated at 1-2%. A party official said, “We believe the increase is due to the exposure of ‘Ahn Cheol-soo = People’s Party,’” adding, “We expect it to rise further.”

Recently, Ahn expressed skepticism about the poll results as the party’s approval rating struggled to rise. On the 26th of last month, he cited a poll commissioned by the Korea Economic Daily to Ipsos on Facebook, stating, “8.8% of the public said they would give proportional votes to the People’s Party, and 6.7% said they would give constituency votes. In contrast, Realmeter’s poll showed 2.3%. Many people wonder how the approval ratings can differ by nearly four times,” and criticized, “Unfortunately, Realmeter is not free from fairness controversies. I believe there is election campaigning disguised as polling in our country.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.