Next Presidential Preference... Woo Won-sik Debuts, Lee Jae-myung Strong, Han Dong-hoon Falls [Polpol News]

Korea Gallup 'Future Presidential Preference' Survey
Yoo Seung-min Reappears After One Year
"Ruling Party Lacks a Focal Point"

In a public opinion poll asking about future political leaders who will lead South Korea, specifically prospective presidential candidates, Lee Jae-myung, the leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, recorded his highest rating in three years, showing an overwhelming result.

On the 20th, Gallup Korea conducted a survey from the 17th to the 19th among 1,000 voters nationwide aged 18 and over, asking "Who do you think would be good as a future president?" (with a 95% confidence level and a sampling error of ±3.1 percentage points). Lee recorded 37%. This figure is the highest since October 2021.

Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, is attending the Supreme Council meeting held at the National Assembly on the 20th. Photo by Kim Hyun-min

Aside from Lee, no other Democratic Party member made the list, while Woo Won-shik, Speaker of the National Assembly, appeared for the first time. Speaker Woo recorded the highest trust among key figures during the recent emergency martial law situation resolution phase. Woo recorded a preference rating of 1%.

Cho Kuk, former leader of the Innovation Party of Korea, who is currently imprisoned after the Supreme Court confirmed a two-year prison sentence on charges including his children's admission corruption and covering up Blue House inspections, was surveyed at 3%.

The People Power Party, which has been experiencing internal strife following the passage of the impeachment motion against President Yoon Suk-yeol, did not show a concentration of preference toward any particular individual.

Han, a former party leader who had consistently attracted attention since the launch of the Yoon Suk-yeol administration and whose preference rating reached 24% in March this year, recorded the same preference rating (5%) as Hong Joon-pyo, Mayor of Daegu, in this survey following his resignation as party leader.

Handonghun, leader of the People Power Party, is leaving after announcing his intention to resign as party leader at the National Assembly on the 16th. Photo by Kim Hyunmin

Former lawmaker Yoo Seung-min reappeared in this poll after one year. Yoo’s preference rating was 2%, the same as Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, Minister of Employment and Labor Kim Moon-soo, and Lee Jun-seok, a member of the Reform New Party.

Ahn Cheol-soo, a People Power Party lawmaker who supported the impeachment motion from start to finish, recorded 1%.

Gallup Korea analyzed this by stating, "The People Power Party support base appears to be effectively leaderless following the passage of the presidential impeachment motion."

This survey was conducted via telephone interviews using randomly selected virtual mobile phone numbers. The response rate was 15.5%. For more details, refer to the Central Election Survey Deliberation Commission.