On April 30, Hankook Research conducted a land-line phone survey of 800 eligible voters across the country on their feelings toward various political parties and leaders. The JoongAng Ilbo, YTN and East Asia Institute sponsored the survey.
Hankook Research found that Sohn’s hard-won victory in Bundang B District boosted his popularity.
While only 3.1 percent of respondents in March chose him as their favored possible presidential candidate, 11.5 percent selected him after the April by-election.
Of those surveyed, 32.1 percent now say that they support the Democratic Party over other political parties, a jump from just 22.2 percent of those surveyed in March.
The Grand National Party saw a modest dip in its popularity from 38.4 percent in March to 37.5 in April. There is now only a 5.4 percent gap in popularity between the Grand National Party and the Democratic Party.
The GNP saw the popularity of its potential presidential candidates sink after the by-elections.
Former Chairwoman Park Geun-hye still remains the most popular among possible candidates, despite a drop from 36.9 percent in March to 35.8 percent after the by-elections.
Sohn’s double-digit popularity ranking puts him in second place behind Park, followed by Rhyu Si-min, head of the People’s Participation Party.
While 10.6 percent of those surveyed in March marked Rhyu as their favorite potential candidate, only 7.1 percent did so in April.
“Voters in the by-elections have a strong tendency to engage in retrospective voting, which in this sense would be casting a ballot based on their own assessment of the current government,” said Jeong Han-wool, assistant dean at the EAI’s survey analysis department.
“But voters will engage in prospective voting [in the presidential race], in which voters decide what candidate to vote for depending on their distinct stances on issues and visions.”