Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) yesterday remained confident of his re-election chances in the Taipei mayoral election despite a poll indicating a tug-of-war between him and the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) -candidate, Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌).
The result of the latest poll released by the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) yesterday put Su slightly ahead of Hau, as Su received an overall support rate of 37.45 percent over Hau’s 36.84 percent.
As for voters’ expectations, 28.44 percent thought Hau would win the race, while 28.14 percent said Su would grab the victory.
The poll, conducted on Wednesday and Thursday among 1,021 Taipei residents, also showed that Su is more popular among younger voters as over 43 percent of people between the ages of 20 and 29 said they would vote for Su in the election, while 37 percent said they would support Hau.
Hau won more support from female voters with a support rate of 40.59 percent among the group, with Su receiving 32 .75 percent.
“We take each poll as references, but poll results won’t affect our election strategies. I am confident about the election outlook and we will work hard to seek the victory,” he said at Taipei City Hall.
Commenting on the poll results, Su acknowledged that he should make greater efforts to attract more support from female voters, while defending his deep understanding of women’s issues as a father of three daughters.
“I practically live in a female dorm and I know a lot about women’s issues. I will try my best to address the issues and meet the expectations of female voters,” he said.
The five special municipality elections will be held on Nov. 27 in Taipei City, Taipei County (to be renamed Sinbei City after it is upgraded), the greater Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung areas.

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