Lee Jae-myung raises his hands during the Democratic Party primary for the country’s southeastern Yeongnam region held at the Ulsan Exhibition & Convention Center on April 20, 2025. (Yoon Woon-sik/Hankyoreh)
Lee Jae-myung, who is seeking the Democratic Party’s nomination for president, cleared the 50% mark for the first time in a poll that asked Koreans who they thought was most fit to be president.
In a poll published on Monday, 50.2% of respondents said Lee was best qualified to be Korea’s next president, in an increase of 1.4 points from the previous week.
RealMeter surveyed 1,504 Koreans aged 18 and above around the country on behalf of Energy Economic News on April 16-18. The poll had a confidence level of 95% and a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 points.
Kim Moon-soo, a candidate for the People Power Party (PPP) nomination and the frontrunner among the conservative candidates, came in second in the poll, with 12.2% of respondents considering him the best fit for the job. Kim’s performance was up 1.3 points from the week before.
The rest of the candidates covered in the poll performed as follows: Han Dong-hoon (PPP) at 8.5%, Hong Joon-pyo (PPP) at 7.5%, Na Kyung-won (PPP) at 4.0%, Ahn Cheol-soo (PPP) at 3.7%, Lee Jun-seok (Reform Party) at 3.5%, Kim Dong-yeon (Democratic Party) at 2.0%, and Kim Kyoung-soo (Democratic Party) at 1.8%.
Lee Jae-myung retained an overwhelming lead in a hypothetical three-way race, claiming 54.2% of support against Kim Moon-soo (23.6%) and Lee Jun-seok (6.1%).
The former Democratic Party leader held a similar lead of 54.6% in matchups against Han Dong-hoon (16.2%) and Lee Jun-seok (5.4%) and against Hong Joon-pyo (20.5%) and Lee Jun-seok (6.0%).
The Democratic Party enjoyed the support of 48.7% of poll respondents, while the PPP stood at 32.9%. That represented a 2-point gain for the Democrats and a 0.2-point dip for the PPP from the previous poll.
Desire for a change in government was up 1.2 points from the week before, reaching 59.9%. Meanwhile 34.3% of respondents wanted to see conservatives stay in power, down 1.0 point.
This survey was carried out with random digit dialing (100%), and had a response rate of 6.6%.
By Kim Hae-jeong, staff reporter
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