The latest survey conducted by the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) showed that 42.37 percent of Greater Taichung residents would vote for Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Greater Taichung mayoral candidate Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) if they were to vote tomorrow, while the incumbent, Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), has 24.76 percent of support.
However, 32.88 percent of the respondents were undecided, the survey showed.
Lin’s lead has fallen by 5.66 percentage points from the newspaper’s previous poll in August. That survey showed a difference of 23.27 percentage points between Lin’s 46.15 percent of support and Hu’s 22.88 percent.
Lin is considered most likely to win by 39.92 percent of respondents in the latest poll, reflecting a drop of 2.14 percentage points since August.
Hu is expected to come out on top by 19.47 percent, similar to August’s 19.28 percent.
An analysis found that in the region that was Taichung City before its merger with Taichung County, 45.14 percent of residents support Lin and 27.3 percent Hu.
In the former Taichung County region, Lin has 41.01 percent of support to Hu’s 23.34 percent.
In terms of voter age, Lin has secured his lead in all age groups, according to the survey.
It found that among 30-to-39-year-olds, Lin holds particularly high support at 50.87 percent, while Hu has 18.26 percent.
Among 20-to-29-year-olds, 41.46 percent support Lin, while 19.51 percent back Hu, the poll showed.
More potential voters said they would vote on election day: 77.25 percent. While 5.11 percent said they do not plan to vote, 17.08 percent said they might.
When reached for comment, Lin said on Thursday night that the survey results are similar to those found by his own team, which show him maintaing a two-digit lead over the past six months. He believes the numbers show that Taichung residents are looking forward to a change for the city to make strides forward.
Greater Taichung Government Information Bureau director Shih Ching-wen (石靜文) said there are all kinds of polls before the vote and hoped that the polls would not become “tools for election strategies.”
She said she believes Hu would not respond to the paper’s survey, as he has repeatedly emphasized “the real poll is taking place on election day, Nov. 29.”
The survey was conducted by the Liberty Times polling center during the nights of Oct. 7, 8 and 9. A total of 1,077 valid responses were collected from likely voters over age 20.
The survey had a margin of error of 2.98 percentage points. The population sample was based on random sampling from Taichung residential numbers.
The survey was financed by the Liberty Times.
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