TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Lai Ching-te (賴清德) remains the favorite for the Taiwan presidency according to a new poll, though the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate has shed significant support since the same poll was taken last month.
The Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation (TPOF) released the poll results on Tuesday (Sept. 26). It showed Lai leading the race with 31.4% of the vote, followed by Taiwan People’s Party candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) on 23.1%. Kuomintang (KMT) candidate Hou Yu-ih (侯友宜) placed third with 15.7%.
Meanwhile new entrant and independent candidate Foxconn founder Terry Gou (郭台銘) polled in last with 10.5%. Vice president for the ruling DPP party Lai shed over 10% support compared to TPOF’s last poll, however this poll did not survey support for the then undeclared Gou.
TPOF’s Chair You Ying-lung (游盈隆) said Lai’s drop in support was likely due to a recent controversy surrounding imported eggs. The controversy caused Taiwan’s agriculture minister Chen Chi-chung (陳吉仲) to resign, and resulted in over 54 million imported eggs being slated for destruction.
TPOF’s polling also showed over 56% were dissatisfied with Chen’s response. Chen has defended his actions throughout the saga, even after his resignation was accepted.
(Taiwan News image)
All of the candidates except for the TPP’s Ko shed support in the poll. Ko’s support increased around 3% compared to the TPOF’s August poll.
The number of undecideds also grew to 13.6% in this month’s poll, compared to 7.4% in August.
Meanwhile support for the DPP and KMT as parties was higher than for their candidates. Over 30% of respondents said they support the DPP, just over 23% said they support the KMT, and 17.1% said they support the TPP.
TPOF also surveyed opinion on a range of other issues including the wastewater release from the Fukashima nuclear power plant and China’s response to it. Taiwan's presidential election is scheduled for January 2024.
