TAIPEI (TVBS News) — As Taiwan gears up for the 2024 presidential election, a neck-and-neck race is unfolding, according to the latest poll released Tuesday (Dec. 19) by the United Daily News.
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidates, Lai Ching-te and his running mate Hsiao Bi-khim, collectively known as "Lai-Hsiao," have garnered a support rate of 31%.
Matching "Lai-Hsiao's" popularity, the Kuomintang (KMT) duo Hou Yu-ih and Jaw Shaw-kong, dubbed the "Hou-Jaw" pairing, witnessed a 2% rise, also reaching a 31% approval rating.
Taiwan People's Party (TPP) candidate Ko Wen-je and his vice-presidential partner, Cynthia Wu, referred to as "Ko-Wu," currently stand at 21% in the polls.
In terms of in-party support, "Lai-Hsiao" lead with an 86% approval rate among DPP supporters, "Hou-Jaw" hold an 83% approval from KMT adherents, while "Ko-Wu" secured an 85% backing from TPP followers.
Among neutral voters, however, "Hou-Jaw" lead the way with 25%, whereas "Ko-Wu" captured 23%, and "Lai-Hsiao" lagged slightly behind at 19%.
Despite this, 45% of all polled voters believe "Lai-Hsiao" are most likely to win the election, compared to 23% for "Hou-Jaw" and 13% for "Ko-Wu." Still, 19% feel the outcome is too close to call.
Furthermore, survey results indicate a collective yearning among 48% of respondents for political change, with 31% expressing a strong desire to see the DPP unseated in the upcoming vote.
The poll, conducted from Dec. 13 to Dec. 17, involved 1,250 adult respondents with an additional 368 refusals. Employing dual-frame sampling of both landline and mobile phones, the methodology also accounted for mobile-only households.
With an aim to reflect the nation's demographic structure accurately, the results were weighted according to age, gender, and population distribution across various municipalities for those aged over 20.
The survey has a margin of error of ±2.8 percentage points at a 95% confidence level.
