TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — DPP Kaohsiung mayoral candidate Lai Jui-lung (賴瑞隆) holds a wide lead over KMT Legislator Ko Chih-en (柯志恩) in recent polls, including a Mirror Media survey released Monday.
In the Mirror Media poll, Lai led Ko across all districts, age groups, genders, and education levels. Lai received 45.1% support, leading Ko by 20.3 percentage points.
The poll was conducted from June 8-9 and surveyed 1,116 respondents. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.93 percentage points at a 95% confidence level.
Mirror Media said that while both candidates have consolidated support within their respective political camps, the roughly 30% of undecided voters could still play a significant role in the election.
Commenting on the results, Lai said the findings were consistent with previous polls, per Liberty Times. Ko, meanwhile, pointed to discrepancies between Mirror Media’s polling on recall campaigns targeting KMT lawmakers and the results of the recall election, per ETtoday.
Ko said her campaign would take all polling into consideration but that the outcome would ultimately be determined by voters on election day.
The Taiwan Brain Trust released a separate poll Friday showing Lai as the favored candidate, per Storm Media. In that survey, Lai received 46.2% support, leading Ko by 17.8 percentage points.
Like the Mirror Media poll, the Taiwan Brain Trust survey showed Lai ahead across districts, age groups, genders, and education levels. The poll was conducted from June 9-10 and surveyed 1,094 respondents.
It had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.96 percentage points at a 95% confidence level.
Asked about the Taiwan Brain Trust poll, Ko’s campaign questioned the neutrality of its chair, Chen Chih-chung (陳致中), per Newtalk. The campaign also accused Lai of dismissing unfavorable polls as biased while embracing favorable results.
In related developments, Lai criticized Ko for supporting the “one China” framework while claiming her family’s assets were held in the US, per Newtalk. He also argued that her past legislative record on revenue allocation legislation had cost Kaohsiung about NT$20 billion (US$630 million) in government funding.
Ko responded that her family fulfilled its obligations in Taiwan before choosing to pursue careers overseas, per UP Media. She added that both former President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) have family members living in the US.
Addressing her position on “one China,” Ko said her views are consistent with the Constitution. She emphasized that she is Taiwanese and a citizen of the ROC.
