Lee Jae-myung dominates presidential matchups

Korea Herald

08-04-2025

Rival parties likely to finalize candidates by early May
The handful of other presidential hopefuls in the Democratic Party of Korea is overshadowed by the party's leader Rep. Lee Jae-myung, who was narrowly beaten by Yoon Suk Yeol in the 2022 presidential election.
By contrast, the People Power Party's pool of potential presidential candidates continues to grow in the absence of a standout candidate.
Lee, despite pending criminal cases against him, remains the dominant pick among potential contenders in the Democratic Party, according to recent polls.
The Democratic Party leader also has an overwhelming lead over every single one of the six prominent conservatives poised to run, according to a projection of a hypothetical one-on-one presidential race released by Gallup Korea on Tuesday.
Of his six conservative rivals, Lee beat Han Dong-hoon, the former People Power Party leader, by the largest margin of 21 percentage points at 52 percent to 31 percent.
Lee also led Yoon's labor minister, Kim Moon-soo, the strong favorite among hardline supporters of the ousted president, by 20 percentage points at 55 percent to 35 percent.
Lee scored 51 percent against 34 percent held by People Power Party Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo, who headed Yoon's transition team, marking a lead of 17 percentage points.
Between Lee and Yoo Seong-min, who was once a close aide of former conservative President Park Geun-hye, the Democratic Party leader had a lead of 17 percentage points at 49 percent to 32 percent.
Against Hong Joon-pyo, the mayor of Daegu, a conservative stronghold, Lee was ahead by 16 percentage points at 52 percent to 36 percent.
Lee's closest rival was Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, whom the Democratic Party leader still led by a gap of 15 percentage points at 52 percent to 37 percent.
Tuesday's Gallup Korea poll surveyed 1,008 eligible voters from April 6-7 via a computer-assisted telephone interviewing system. More about the poll can be found on the National Election Commission website.
Lee's commanding lead in the run-up to the election, set for June 3, is rendering a potential Democratic Party primary increasingly pointless, party insiders say.
Lee is known for his hardcore base of supporters, more so than any of his contemporaries, a fact for which he was criticized by those in the Democratic Party's non-Lee Jae-myung faction as "playing toxic fandom politics" over the course of the party's convention last year.
At last year's Democratic Party convention, Lee was elected party chair a second time, winning 85 percent of the vote. His then-rival for the party chairpersonship, Kim Doo-kwan, a former Democratic Party lawmaker, fell far short at just 12 percent.
This makes him all the more likely to win the Democratic Party primary due to take place later this month.
The People Power Party, on the other hand, does not have a single candidate it can rally around, with nearly a dozen hopefuls expected to be lining up.