Backers of former pres. candidate Ahn divided into 3 groups

Voters who had supported independent candidate Ahn Cheol-soo, who dropped out of the presidential race last week, have been divided into three groups.

The Dong-A Ilbo conducted a survey through in-depth interviews with 150 supporters, which are 50 supporters per ruling Saenuri Party candidate Park Geun-hye, main opposition Democratic United Party candidate Moon Jae-in and Ahn on Saturday and Sunday. Twenty-five (50 percent) of the 50 Ahn supporters said they would vote for Moon, 13 (26 percent) said they would abstain, and nine (18 percent) said they would vote for Park.

Moon`s figure represents a drop of 16 percentage points from the first survey conducted three weeks ago, when 66 percent of Ahn’s supporters said they would back Moon. The change apparently reflects disappointment among Ahn’s supporters at their candidate`s sudden withdrawal from the race instead of unifying the candidacy through a normal process. Nearly half (47.3 percent) of those polled in the latest survey said of Ahn’s withdrawal, “It was not unification of the opposition candidate.”

In the Jeolla provinces, Ahn`s supporters largely shifted their support to Moon, the survey found. Five (83 percent) out of six Ahn`s supporters who participated in the poll said they will favor Moon, saying a change of administration is the priority. One backer abstained, but none said they shifted their support to Park.

In non-Jeolla regions, however, 20 people (45 percent) replied that they shifted their support to Moon, 12 (27 percent) said they would refrain from voting, and nine (21 percent) said they would vote for Park. Three others (7 percent) responded that they “are agonizing.”This suggests that the effect of the unified candidate has yet to appear in regions other than the Jeolla provinces.

Among Ahn`s supporters in their 20s and 30s (23 persons), 48 percent (11) shifted their support to Moon, and only one (4.3 percent) shifted support to Park. The numbers of people in their 50s and 60s among Ahn’s supporters who shifted their support to Moon and Park were equal at five each.

Moon’s supporters were more aggressive in welcoming Ahn’s dropping out as a positive development. On which candidate will benefit more from Ahn’s withdrawal, the same number of Ahn’s supporters picked Moon (46 percent) and Park (46 percent), but 74 percent of Moon’s supporters said their candidate stood to benefit more. Fifty-two percent of Park’s supporters said Park would benefit more.

dong@donga.com