Koreans still do not prefer Trump as US president: survey

As Donald Trump gets ready to kick off a second nonconsecutive term as the president of the United States, a survey shows that the majority of South Koreans do not prefer him as the leader of the country's most important ally.

Local pollster Gongjung conducted a Nov. 4-5 survey of 1,000 adults, commissioned by media outlet Dailian, which showed that 76.8 percent of respondents here thought that a Kamala Harris win in the US presidential election would have been most beneficial for South Korea. Just 14.2 percent picked Trump, while the remaining 9 percent said they were unsure.

Harris, the incumbent US vice president who became the presidential candidate for the US Democratic Party after President Joe Biden withdrew just over three months ago, was more favored than Trump among Koreans across men and women, in all regions and with all age groups. Support for Harris among men was higher than among women -- 78.9 percent to 74.8 percent.

Both sides of the aisle here favored Harris as well, with supporters of South Korea's ruling People Power Party showing 76.9 percent approval of the US vice president and those supporting the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea showing an 80.1 percent approval rate.

Some 75.8 percent of those who approved of President Yoon Suk Yeol preferred Harris, while 77.8 percent of those disapproving of Yoon said Harris as US president be better for their country.

The survey showed that Trump's approval among younger Koreans -- 21.5 percent among those under 30 and 20.4 percent among 30-somethings -- was relatively higher than for older age groups, while still falling far short of their support for Harris. Some internet memes related to Trump -- with little or no direct relation to his actual policies and political inclinations -- have gone viral online here over in past years.

Despite his popularity as a celebrity, Donald Trump has rarely been the most preferred US politician here, except for the brief period in which he was deeply involved in peace talks and denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

A Gallup Korea poll in September of last year showed that 24 percent of the 1,000 respondents here wanted Trump to win the US presidential election, while 52 percent picked Joe Biden, the incumbent US president who was then expected to be the Democratic candidate for this year's election.

The same poll taken just before the 2020 US presidential election showed 59 percent of Koreans preferred Biden to 16 percent who wanted Trump to win.

Another poll by the US-based Pew Research Center in 2020 showed that only 17 percent of Koreans had confidence in Trump, who was the US president at the time. The figure had plummeted from 46 percent the previous year, and was thought be affected by his comments about potentially withdrawing US troops from the peninsula and deadlocked defense costs-sharing talks.