Ahn Cheol-soo Ranks First in Party Leader Suitability Among U Party Supporters... Cheon Ha-ram Creates a 'Storm'

4-6 Days Hangil Research Survey Results
Ahn Cheol-soo Ranks 1st in Party Leader Suitability Among People Power Party Supporters

[Asia Economy Reporter Geum Bo-ryeong] About a month before the People Power Party's March 8 national convention, conservative supporters considered candidate Ahn Cheol-soo the most suitable for party leader. Candidate Cheon Ha-ram, classified as part of the 'Lee Jun-seok faction,' declared his candidacy relatively late but attracted attention by rising to third place.

On the 8th, according to a poll conducted by Hangil Research at the request of Cookie News from March 4 to 6, among 1,246 men and women nationwide aged 18 and older, including 527 People Power Party supporters, candidate Ahn ranked first with 35.5% as the most suitable next party leader.

On the 7th, at a broadcasting studio in Gangseo-gu, Seoul, the leadership of the People Power Party and the party representative candidates are taking a commemorative photo at the 3rd party convention candidate vision presentation. From the left: Jo Kyung-tae, Yoon Sang-hyun, Hwang Kyo-ahn, Ahn Cheol-soo, Cheon Ha-ram, Kim Ki-hyun (party representative candidates), Jeong Jin-seok (Emergency Committee Chairman), Yoo Heung-soo (Election Commission Chairman of the party convention), Joo Ho-young (floor leader), Kim Seok-ki (Secretary General). Photo by National Assembly Press Corps

Candidate Kim Ki-hyun was second with 31.2%. The support rates for candidates Kim and Ahn showed a margin within the margin of error.

Candidate Cheon, who officially declared his candidacy for party leader on the 3rd, ranked third with 10.9%. Cheon is one of the so-called 'reform candidates' supported by former party leader Lee Jun-seok.

Following were candidate Hwang Kyo-ahn with 7.8%, candidate Yoon Sang-hyun with 3.2%, and candidate Cho Kyung-tae with 1.5%. Those who supported other candidates or responded with 'don't know' or no response accounted for 10.1%.

In a head-to-head contest between candidates Kim and Ahn, 46.7% said they would vote for Ahn. Candidate Kim showed a support rate of 37.5%. Ahn showed an advantage beyond the margin of error.

However, this survey did not reflect the fact that former lawmaker Na Kyung-won effectively endorsed candidate Kim the day before. After a luncheon meeting with candidate Kim the previous day, former lawmaker Na told reporters, "We had sufficient discussions about what kind of Republic of Korea we want to build, our love and loyalty to the party," adding, "What we should consider is the successful governance of the Yoon Seok-yeol administration and winning next year's general election. We must put aside any personal interests before that."

This survey combined 90% wireless phone automated response (ARS) and 10% wired phone interviewer surveys, then applied weighting by gender, age, and region. The response rate was 3.5%, and the sampling error was ±2.8 percentage points at a 95% confidence level. For more details, refer to the Central Election Survey Deliberation Commission website.