A civic group poll put DPP candidate Shen Po-yang at 50.3% against incumbent Chiang Wan-an at 33.3%. In a broadcast interview on the 20th, Chiang acknowledged the race differs from April and May. Local elections are on Nov. 28.
According to the Liberty Times, a Taipei mayoral poll released on the 20th by the Xinmin Association showed Shen Po-yang at 50.3% and KMT incumbent Chiang Wan-an at 33.3%, a gap of 17 percentage points.
광고 문의 · 300×250Dai Li-an designed the questionnaire and analyzed the results, and Biken Market Research ran the phone survey. Fieldwork was Oct. 14-16, with 1,075 completed interviews of Taipei adults aged 20 and over (753 landline, 322 mobile) and a margin of error of up to about 3 points.
Chiang's interview
Chiang appeared on the program ‘News Face to Face’ on the night of the 20th. United Daily News reported that he said the race has shifted quickly since April and May and that ‘we must admit this’, calling the situation very urgent. He argued no result can be called before voting, and said he would use the remaining 39 days to rally his base and explain four years of governance.
He said he is open to a second debate and more media interviews, citing the Taipei Dome project and the Gongguan roundabout fix as achievements. Host Hsieh Chen-wu said Shen will appear on the same program on Nov. 2.
A dispute over interpretation
The Liberty Times also relayed commentator Shen Fu-hsiung's analysis that day. He said Chiang is not a sharp candidate but should not carry all the blame, as the KMT, its legislative caucus and the general climate weighed on him. He said he first doubted earlier results, but similar trends in New Taipei make it hard to explain them as mere polling error.
The results should be read with the commissioning group, the analyst's leanings and the limits of a single survey in mind. Whether other pollsters show the same picture cannot be confirmed from these reports, and no formal response from either camp was reported. The local election is on Nov. 28.