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
“China is preparing to invade Taiwan,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an exclusive interview with British media channel Sky News for a special report titled, “Is Taiwan ready for a Chinese invasion?” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today in a statement. The 25-minute-long special report by Helen Ann-Smith released yesterday saw Sky News travel to Penghu, Taoyuan and Taipei to discuss the possibility of a Chinese invasion and how Taiwan is preparing for an attack. The film observed emergency response drills, interviewed baseball fans at the Taipei Dome on their views of US President
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a "tsunami watch" alert after a magnitude 8.7 earthquake struck off the Kamchatka Peninsula in northeastern Russia earlier in the morning. The quake struck off the east coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula at 7:25am (Taiwan time) at a depth of about 19km, the CWA said, citing figures from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. The CWA's Seismological Center said preliminary assessments indicate that a tsunami could reach Taiwan's coastal areas by 1:18pm today. The CWA urged residents along the coast to stay alert and take necessary precautions as waves as high as 1m could hit the southeastern
ECONOMIC BENEFITS: The imports from Belize would replace those from Honduras, whose shrimp exports have dropped 67 percent since cutting ties in 2023 Maintaining ties with Taiwan has economic benefits, Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials said yesterday, citing the approval of frozen whiteleg shrimp imports from Belize by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an example. The FDA on Wednesday approved the tariff-free imports from Belize after the whiteleg shrimp passed the Systematic Inspection of Imported Food, which would continue to boost mutual trade, the ministry said. Taiwan’s annual consumption of whiteleg shrimps stands at 30,000 tonnes, far exceeding domestic production, the ministry said. Taiwan used to fill the gap by importing shrimps from Honduras, but purchases slumped after Tegucigalpa severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan
The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a southwestern extension of the Sanying MRT Line from New Taipei to Bade District (八德) in Taoyuan, with a goal of starting construction by late 2026. The 4.03-kilometer extension, featuring three new stations, will run from the current terminus at Yingtao Fude Station (LB12) in New Taipei City to Dannan Station (LB14), where it will connect with Taoyuan’s Green Line, New Taipei City Metro Corp said in a statement. This extension will follow the completion of core Sanying Line, a 14.29-kilometer medium-capacity system linking Tucheng (土城), Sansia (三峽)
RSS