President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) would beat Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) by a small margin in next year’s presidential election if they are the only candidates, a poll released by the Taiwan Public Opinion Foundation showed yesterday.
In a two-way presidential race between Tsai of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) Han — both of whom won their party primaries — 45 percent of voters would cast their ballot for Tsai, while 40.1 percent would back Han, the poll showed.
Yet, if Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) and Hon Hai Precision Industry Co founder Terry Gou (郭台銘) joined the race, the margin between Tsai and Han would be reduced to within the margin of error, it showed.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
In a three-way race between Tsai, Han and Ko, 33.5 percent of respondents said they would vote for Han, while 32.6 percent would back Tsai and 25.5 percent would support Ko, the poll showed.
In a four-way presidential race between Tsai, Han, Ko and Gou, 29.7 percent of voters would choose Tsai, 29.3 percent would back Han, 18.3 percent would support Ko and 15.9 percent would prefer Gou, it showed.
Compared with poll results released by the foundation last month, Tsai’s lead over Han has decreased.
Tsai led Han by more than five percentage points in both a two-way and three-way race, the previous poll showed.
Tsai’s job approval rate declined by nearly five percentage points from 47.7 percent last month to 42.8 percent, the poll showed.
Approval for Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) dropped from 52.4 percent last month to 48 percent, it showed.
Forty percent of respondents identified themselves as supporters of the DPP, while 38.8 percent said they supported the KMT and 17.5 percent said they are independent voters, the foundation said.
Tsai’s lead over Han in a two-way race is a not strong, foundation chairman Michael You (游盈隆) said, adding that if Ko joins the election, the margin between them makes it unclear who would win.
The election would be further complicated if Gou runs as an independent, You said.
While poll results suggest that Gou would have the lowest support rate of the four, he could draw votes from Han and Ko, giving Tsai an advantage, he said.
Whether Ko and Gou would join the race is an important factor, he said.
The poll, conducted from Monday to Tuesday last week, gathered 1,089 valid samples and has a margin of error of 2.97 percentage points.
Separately yesterday, Ko said a new poll showing that his approval rate is better than Tsai’s was intended to lure him into the race.
The poll by Want Want China Times Media Group showed that if Ko runs for president against Tsai and Han, his approval would be second behind Han.
“The China Times is trying to lure me into running for president,” Ko told reporters.
Asked to comment on former New Taipei City mayor Eric Chu’s (朱立倫) remark that the KMT would be doomed in the election if Gou runs as an independent, Ko said it would be okay if the KMT were doomed, but Taiwan cannot be doomed.
Additional reporting by Lee I-chia
‘LOW PROBABILITY’: China still ‘has a ways to go to develop the actual, no-kidding capability’ to seize Taiwan militarily, US General Mark Milley said The US’ top general on Thursday downplayed concern that China would attempt a military takeover of Taiwan in the near term, saying Beijing does not have the capability to do so. While there has been rising concern in Taiwan and among US lawmakers about Chinese military activity near Taiwan, such as flying jets in Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ), US military officials said that such moves are not overly concerning. US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley told lawmakers that while Taiwan was still a core national interest of China, “there’s little intent right now, or motivation,
A Kaohsiung woman who thought that she was dating Hollywood actor Keanu Reeves was found not guilty of abetting fraud, the Kaohsiung District Court has ruled. Citing insufficient evidence to prove intent, the court on May 27 dismissed fraud and money-laundering charges against the woman, surnamed Chang (張), saying that the evidence suggested that she had been duped. The verdict can be appealed. The verdict said that police opened an investigation into Chang after her bank account was linked to an online catfishing scheme, which involves luring someone into a relationship by using a fictional online persona. The scheme claimed two victims, including a
The Canadian House of Commons on Thursday unanimously passed the first reading of a proposal to create a legal framework for efforts to strengthen relations with Taiwan. The Canada-Taiwan Relations Framework Act was introduced by Canadian Member of Parliament Michael Cooper, who said that not having a formal diplomatic relationship with Taiwan has complicated interactions between the two nations. Taiwan is one of Canada’s largest trading partners, and the two share strong people-to-people links and common values, he said. Taiwan “is a vibrant economy and one of the world’s top 20 economies. It is time Canada’s relations with Taiwan reflect
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers yesterday condemned Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) Institute of Revolutionary Practice director Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) for calling the government a “vaccine beggar” for receiving a donation of COVID-19 vaccines from the US. “Lo is still living in feudal China,” DPP Legislator Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) told a news conference. “When Taiwan needs unity, he uses malicious words to malign our president’s character and Taiwan’s national integrity. This person is either evil or he is completely ignorant,” she said. Taiwan donated 2 million masks to the US, and provided 2 million masks and 50,000 protective gowns to Japan when they
RSS