By Yi Whan-woo





Ahn Cheol-soo

Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo, the odds-on favorite to win the presidential nomination of the People's Party, is emerging as a serious rival to presidential frontrunner Moon Jae-in of the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK).

Ahn has soared as a runner-up in the latest polls of presidential hopefuls after joining a handful of minor candidates whose support rating remained in the single-digits.

Analysts said Monday that Ahn, 55, an entrepreneur-turned-politician, can expand his support base because he, unlike Moon, can attract both conservative and centrist voters while securing support from the liberal bloc's stronghold in the Jeolla region.

Ahn's popularity is 19 percent at the highest, which is still below Moon's that has been hovering around the 30 percent-range for months.

But it can break into the 20 percent-range and go higher considering Ahn's favorability has been rising quickly over the past few weeks, according to the experts.

Ahn garnered support of 19 percent, up from 10 percent a week ago, in a survey conducted by Gallup Korea from March 28 to 30.

In a separate weekly poll taken by Realmter last week, his support rating jumped from 12.6 percent to 18.7 percent, while Moon's rose by 0.5 percentage points to 34.9 percent.

The experts speculated that Ahn may gain more of an advantage over Moon if they become the only two presidential contestants left.

A poll released Monday showed that Ahn had 43.6 percent against Moon's 36.4 percent in a hypothetical two-man race.

It is the first time that Ahn beat Moon in a survey concerning the May 9 presidential election. Ahn also led his rival well beyond the margin of error at 3.1 percent.

"The two have overlapping home turfs in Gwangju, North and South Jeolla provinces. And Ahn appears to have the edge over Moon considering the former is backed by more veteran politicians from the region, such as the People's Party floor leader Park Jie-won," said Yoon Hee-woong, a senior researcher at Opinion Live.

Other analysts viewed that Ahn is gaining support from young and centrist voters who used to favor South Chungcheong Gov. An Hee-jung, one of DPK presidential hopefuls. An lost to Moon in all the DPK's primary elections so far.

"An's supporters tend to be conservative when it comes to issues on national security and economy although they are generally viewed as liberals," said Shin Yul, a political science professor at Myongji University. "In that regard, they are not necessarily DPK loyalists mainly favoring Moon."

Shin said up to 80 percent of An's supporters are eventually expected to throw their support to Ahn over Moon.

The professor, however, said Ahn may still need to prove that he is capable of handling state affairs. He pointed out that Moon was a former chief of staff to late President Roh Moo-hyun.

"Otherwise, Ahn's popularity may not rise beyond 30 percent," he said.