Joo Ho-young: "Oh will win against Park by at least a 15% margin"

"Final Poll Shows 20% Gap... Vote Margin Expected to Hold"

Joo Ho-young, Floor Leader of the People Power Party

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jun-yi] Joo Ho-young, the floor leader of the People Power Party, predicted that Oh Se-hoon, the People Power Party candidate for Seoul mayor in the April 7 by-election, will defeat Park Young-sun, the Democratic Party candidate, by a margin of more than 15 percentage points.

On the 6th, Joo appeared on CBS Radio’s ‘Kim Hyun-jung’s News Show’ and, when asked "What do you think the grassroots public sentiment will be like?" he replied, "I judge that (Oh’s lead over Park) is either maintaining an overwhelming difference or widening."

He said, "Looking at the last public opinion polls before the publication ban, many show a 20% difference. In a poll commissioned by Newsis and conducted by Realmeter from March 30 to 31, the government judgment rate was 54.1% versus the stability rate of 36.3%," adding, "Isn’t a public opinion poll the most objective way to see (voter sentiment)?"

Regarding the possibility that voter sentiment might have changed during the six-day ‘blackout period’ when publishing polls is prohibited before the election, he said, "Even during the poll publication ban period, precise polls are continuously conducted," and added, "Having served as the head of the Yeouido research institute myself, I know that undecided voters finalize their choices two or three days before the election."

When asked "By what percentage do you expect to win?" he answered, "If the Democratic Party mobilizes its organization, their support rate might rise a bit, so the gap could narrow. On the other hand, the angered public heading to the polls is advantageous to us, so how these factors play out positively or negatively is the key."

He continued, "I believe the margin of victory will be much larger than what Kim Jong-in, the emergency committee chairman, predicted," and forecasted, "I expect a stable double-digit win, at least by more than 15%."

Chairman Kim, in an interview on CBS’s ‘Kim Hyun-jung’s News Show’ on the 25th of last month, said, "The current 20 percentage point gap will not fully continue," and predicted a 5 to 7 percentage point victory margin, stating, "Two-thirds of Ahn Cheol-soo’s support will go to Oh Se-hoon, and one-third to Park Young-sun."

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