The margin between the support rate for the two candidates in the Taipei City mayoral election continued to narrow, the latest poll indicated yesterday, suggesting that swing voters will play a major role in determining the election result.
According to a poll released yesterday by the Chinese-language Apple Daily, Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) continued to hold a lead over his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) counterpart, Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), but the margin was by far the smallest of recent polls, putting Hau only 0.4 percentage points ahead of Su.
The margin of error was 2.9 percent, with a confidence level of 95 percent.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
Of the 1,094 respondents, 33.4 percent said they would vote for Hau, while Su received 33 percent of the support, and 33.6 percent were still undecided.
Among those who identified themselves as swing voters, 31 percent said they would probably support Su in the election, while Hau only received 19.2 percent of their support.
Compared with the newspaper’s poll last month, Su has gained more support, rising from 30.1 percent last moth, while Hau attracted only 0.2 percentage points more support from last month’s 33.2 percent.
Hau yesterday said he remained confident about his performance in the election, but said he would put more effort into attracting the support of swing voters.
“We’ve been canvassing the streets and visiting local voters, and I think more Taipei residents will lend us their support,” he said after paying a visit to a local temple.
Hau will take a leave of absence after today to focus on the election campaign. The KMT will hold a large-scale rally on Nov. 21 to boost his support.
According to the KMT, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) will not lead the rally, which will begin in front of Taipei City Hall and end with a campaign party on Ketagalan Boulevard. Ma, in his capacity as the KMT chairman, will join the crowd at the party and give a speech.
The KMT will also appeal to swing voters by condemning the DPP for distancing itself from a TV host’s use of expletives against Ma and the government’s policies at an event hosted by pro--localization groups over the weekend.
KMT Spokesman Su Jun-pin (蘇俊賓) said rational voters would not accept such a negative campaign, and urged DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to offer an apology.
Meanwhile, Su Tseng-chang thanked Taipei residents for their support.
He said he would follow the original campaign strategy of making door-to-door visits to local voters and inspect municipal projects to learn about more problems.
“We will continue to meet local voters and discuss municipal issues with them. Understanding Taipei residents’ concerns and addressing those issues should be the best way to attract their support,” he said.
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