In a recent survey on the suitability of candidates for the next presidential election, Lee Jae-myung, a presidential candidate from the Democratic Party, surpassed the 50% mark for the first time. According to Realmeter’s survey commissioned by Energy Economy News, which interviewed 1,504 voters aged 18 and over nationwide from the 16th to the 18th, Lee’s support increased by 1.4 percentage points from the previous week to reach 50.2%.
Kim Moon-soo, a candidate from the People Power Party (PPP) who had previously led the conservative preference rankings, secured 12.2%, placing second with a rise of 1.3 percentage points. Other candidates from the PPP, including Han Dong-hoon and Hong Joon-pyo, garnered 8.5% and 7.5%, respectively. Na Kyung-won received 4.0%, followed by Ahn Cheol-soo with 3.7%, Innovation Party candidate Lee Jun-seok with 3.5%, Democratic Party candidate Kim Dong-yeon with 2.0%, and Kim Kyung-soo with 1.8%.
Party support showed the Democratic Party at 48.7% and the PPP at 32.9%, with the Democratic Party seeing a 2.0 percentage point increase while the PPP declined by 0.2 percentage points compared to the previous survey. The gap of 15.8 percentage points between the two parties widened by 2.2 points from the previous week, staying beyond the margin of error for four consecutive weeks.
In terms of preference for the ruling power in the next administration, 59.9% favored a change in government, up by 1.2 percentage points from the previous week, whereas support for continuing the current administration dropped by 1.0 percentage point to 34.3%. For eight weeks since the fourth week of February, the preference for a government change has consistently remained outside the margin of error, surpassing the preference for government continuation, with the gap steadily increasing.
This survey was conducted using a 100% wireless automatic response method, with a response rate of 6.6%. For detailed information, refer to the website of the National Election Survey Deliberation Commission.