Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon the most favored political leader; Lee Jun-seok the least favored (Gallup Korea survey)

South Koreans feel the most favorably toward Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon among political leaders, while Reform Party lawmaker Lee Jun-seok drew the least favorable views, a survey has found. Gallup Korea polled 1,003 adults aged 18 and older nationwide by phone from Oct. 13 to 15 on their favorability toward seven major political leaders. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points at a 95 percent confidence level. Gallup said it selected the seven figures based on those repeatedly mentioned in five rounds of open-ended surveys on preferred future political leaders conducted since the last presidential election.

Mayor Oh ranked first with 30 percent of respondents saying they felt favorably toward him. He was followed by independent lawmaker Han Dong-hoon at 23 percent and Democratic Party leader Kim Min-seok at 21 percent. Cho Kuk, head of the Innovation Policy Research Institute, registered 20 percent and Democratic Party lawmaker Jeong Chung-rae 19 percent, while People Power Party leader Jang Dong-hyuk and lawmaker Lee Jun-seok each stood at just 14 percent.

In this survey, Lee Jun-seok recorded the highest unfavorability rating at 72 percent. He was followed by Cho Kuk and Jang Dong-hyuk at 68 percent each, Jeong Chung-rae at 66 percent, Han Dong-hoon at 64 percent, Kim Min-seok at 59 percent and Oh Se-hoon at 57 percent. All seven figures polled posted higher unfavorability than favorability ratings, with disfavor ratings all exceeding 50 percent.