Ahn beats Park in 2-way race: poll

Ahn Cheol-soo

Ahn Cheol-soo, professor at Seoul National University, has benefited from being featured in a popular TV show which aired earlier this week, according to a recent poll.

The latest Realmeter poll, which was released Wednesday, found that his approval ratings jumped 10 percent, compared with survey results a week ago.

It found Rep. Park Geun-hye of the ruling Saenuri Party topped the survey with 32 percent, followed by Ahn with 28.2 percent and trailing behind them was Rep. Moon Jae-in of the main opposition Democratic United Party.

In a hypothetical two-way race with Rep. Park, the poll showed Ahn is slightly ahead of the former ruling party chairwoman. Ahn’s rate stood at 48.3 percent, compared with 45.2 percent for Park.

Park Geun-hye

The Realmeter poll found the ratings for Reps. Park and Moon had fallen.

The survey of 1,500 people has a margin of plus and minus 2.5 percentage points.

Results indicate there was a good reason for his rivals to get worried by Ahn’s appearance on the TV show as it boosted his ratings.

Several presidential hopefuls, including Governor of Gyeonggi Province Kim Moon-soo, whose request to appear on the same show were rejected by SBS, complained that it was unfair for the broadcaster to air the show as this could impact the presidential race.

The question is whether the trend will continue.

The Realmeter said some conservative and liberal voters showed signs of switching their preferred presidential hopeful to Ahn after the “Healing Camp” show. This is despite not even having joined the presidential race.

The polling agency said it remains to be seen whether Ahn’s soaring ratings could be sustained, noting that it tends to rise sharply after he gets some media exposure.

Before the late night talk show, the founder of the computer virus program provider AhnLab met reporters to unveil a plan to establish a charity foundation with the funds he had donated. His ratings were positively affected by greeting the public, according to pollsters.

The viewer rating of Healing Camp hit 18.2 percent Monday when Ahn’s episode was aired. The rate was higher than that of Park and Moon when they appeared on the show earlier this year.

During the show, Ahn said he still needs time to think about whether he will run in the presidential race or not, adding he will make a public announcement immediately after he makes a decision.

His supporters are mainly those in their 20s, 30s and 40s who are sick and tired of old politics and smear campaigns. Ahn is regarded as a role model for college students at a time of jobless growth. He created his own start-up company which later became extremely successful, instead of seeking a medical sector job. He had majored in medical science.

He donated his wealth to make a difference for the community. This differentiated him from other businesspeople who often seek business profits at the expense of corporate ethics, making the younger generation believe he is different from greedy corporate leaders.

Regarding the chances for Ahn to join the presidential race, people in the political circle speculated that he would remain as a supporter of a standard bearer of the opposition camp for the December race, instead of risking his career and reputation for his presidential ambitions.

Ahn, however, kept all options open including his candidacy in the presidential race. <The Korea Times/Kang Hyun-kyung>

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