Lee Nak-yeon Maintains 1st Place in Next Presidential Preference at 30.1%... Hwang Recovers to 20% Range

Lee Nak-yeon, Chairman of the COVID-19 National Crisis Overcoming Committee of the Democratic Party of Korea, attended the committee meeting held at the National Assembly on the 9th and kept his lips tightly sealed after finishing his opening remarks. Photo by Yoon Dong-ju doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Nahum] In the next presidential candidate preference survey, former Prime Minister Lee Nak-yeon maintained his first-place position with a rising trend for five consecutive months. Hwang Kyo-ahn, leader of the United Future Party, who ranked second, recovered his preference rate to the 20% range, narrowing the gap with former Prime Minister Lee.

Realmeter announced on the 9th that in a survey conducted from the 2nd to the 6th of last month on 14 major politicians from both ruling and opposition parties commissioned by OhmyNews, former Prime Minister Lee recorded 30.1%, up 0.2 percentage points from the previous survey, securing first place. Leader Hwang ranked second with 20.5%, up 2.8 percentage points. The preference gap between former Prime Minister Lee and Leader Hwang narrowed from 12.2 percentage points to 9.6 percentage points.

Former Prime Minister Lee led in Gwangju and Jeolla (53.2%), Gyeonggi and Incheon (33.2%), Seoul (31.3%), Daejeon, Sejong, and Chungcheong (26.9%), among people in their 40s (37.6%), 30s (33.9%), 50s (32.8%), 20s (19.7%), progressive groups (52.8%), moderate groups (25.8%), Democratic Party supporters (59.2%), and supporters of President Moon Jae-in’s administration (55.8%).

Leader Hwang showed the highest preference in Daegu and Gyeongbuk (35.8%), Busan, Ulsan, and Gyeongnam (28.3%), conservative groups (43.9%), United Future Party supporters (53.1%), Minsheng Party supporters (33.7%), and opponents of President Moon’s administration (40.8%).

Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung maintained third place with 13.0%. His preference rate rose sharply by 7.4 percentage points from the previous month, which is interpreted as influenced by his strong response against the Shincheonji Church during the recent COVID-19 outbreak.

People’s Party leader Ahn Cheol-soo maintained fourth place with 5.6%, up 0.9 percentage points, and former Liberty Korea Party leader Hong Joon-pyo recorded 4.5%, up 0.1 percentage points, ranking fifth. Following them were former Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon (3.7%), Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon (3.6%), and United Future Party lawmaker Yoo Seung-min (2.8%).

Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae, included in the survey for the first time, recorded 2.5%. Others such as Justice Party leader Shim Sang-jung (2.2%), Democratic Party lawmaker Kim Boo-kyum (1.8%), and Jeju Governor Won Hee-ryong (1.1%) remained in the lower ranks.

The combined preference rate for the pro-progressive and ruling party candidates (Lee Nak-yeon, Lee Jae-myung, Park Won-soon, Choo Mi-ae, Shim Sang-jung, Kim Boo-kyum) rose by 5.4 percentage points to 53.2%, while the combined preference rate for the pro-conservative and opposition candidates (Hwang Kyo-ahn, Ahn Cheol-soo, Hong Joon-pyo, Oh Se-hoon, Yoo Seung-min, Won Hee-ryong) rose by 0.3 percentage points to 38.2%. The gap between the two camps is 15.0 percentage points.

The survey contacted 48,131 adults aged 18 and over nationwide, with a final 2,541 respondents completing the survey, recording a response rate of 5.3%. The sampling error is ±1.9 percentage points at a 95% confidence level. For more details, refer to the Central Election Survey Deliberation Commission website.

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