TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan Vice President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) remains in the lead for the 2024 presidential election according to a poll released on Tuesday (Oct. 23).

Lai, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate, received 29.7% support according to the poll, followed by the Taiwan People’s Party’s (TPP) Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) at 25.6%. Kuomintang (KMT) candidate Hou Yu-ih (侯友宜) polled at 21.1%, while just over 15% said they were undecided.

The poll was carried out by the Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation (TPOF), and compared to their survey conducted in Sept., only Hou's support grew. Lai is now down over 13% since his support peaked in August, while Ko and Hou’s poll numbers continue to converge.

When independent presidential candidate Terry Gou (郭臺銘) is included in polling, candidate rankings are the same as without him, and Gou gains support at their expense. However, Gou remains in last, polling at 12.4%.

(Taiwan News image)

The KMT and TPP continue to entertain the idea of cooperation, but as yet have not come to an agreement about how this would work. According to the poll, if they did cooperate their combined support would comfortably beat the DPP’s Lai in a presidential election.

TPOF conducted the poll between Oct. 15 and 17, polling 1,080 people. Landline and cellphone calls were used at a rate of 70% to 30% to produce a result with a margin of error of around 3%.