# Opinion polling for the 2012 South Korean presidential election

This article is a list of opinion polls that have been taken for the 2012 South Korean presidential election. It is divided into polls for the presidential election itself, and polls for the primaries of the two main parties, Saenuri and the Democratic United Party. Two-way polls are used to demonstrate the popularity of one candidate with respect to the other, but the election itself will have no run-off round and will be held under a system of First Past the Post. The polls are ordered by date, with the newest at the top.

## General election
### Two-candidate race
#### Park Geun-hye vs. Ahn Cheol-soo

| Poll source | Date | Sample size | | | Margin |
| Poll source | Date | Sample size | Park (%) Saenuri | Ahn (%) Independent | Margin |
| Hankyoreh/Korea Society Opinion Institute | 27–28 July 2012 | 1,000 | 44.9 | 48.8 | 3.9 |
| Gallup | 23–27 July 2012 | 1,520 | 42 | 42 | 0 |
| Realmeter | 23–27 July 2012 | 3,750 | 44.2 | 48.4 | 4.2 |
| JoongAng Ilbo | 19–21 July 2012 | 2,000 | 49.3 | 45.2 | 4.1 |
| Realmeter | 16–20 July 2012 | 3,750 | 47.7 | 44.8 | 2.9 |
| OhMyNews/Research View | 16–17 July 2012 | 1,000 | 48.7 | 46.5 | 2.2 |
| Realmeter | 25–29 June 2012 | 3,750 | 49.0 | 43.8 | 5.2 |
| Realmeter | 18–22 June 2012 | 3,750 | 49.2 | 44.3 | 4.9 |
| Realmeter | 29 May – 1 June 2012 | 3,000 | 48.6 | 45.6 | 3.0 |
| Hankyoreh/Korea Society Opinion Institute | 26–27 May 2012 | 800 | 53.5 | 43.7 | 9.8 |
| Realmeter | 21–25 May 2012 | 3,750 | 48.5 | 44.7 | 3.8 |
| JoongAng Ilbo | 15 May 2012 | 910 | 51.9 | 43.0 | 8.9 |
| Realmeter | 14–18 May 2012 | 3,750 | 48.8 | 43.9 | 4.9 |
| Realmeter | 7–11 May 2012 | 3,750 | 47.6 | 45.6 | 2.0 |
| Realmeter | 7–8 May 2012 | 1,500 | 51.3 | 40.7 | 10.6 |
| Chosun Ilbo / Media Research | 2–6 May 2012 | 1,000 | 47.2 | 42.1 | 5.1 |
| Realmeter | 30 Apr – 4 May 2012 | 3,000 | 47.9 | 45.7 | 2.2 |
| Gallup | 30 Apr – 4 May 2012 | 1,272 | 47.0 | 37.0 | 10.0 |
| Realmeter | 23–27 April 2012 | 3,750 | 47.1 | 46.9 | 0.2 |
| Realmeter | 16–20 April 2012 | 3,750 | 49.2 | 45.0 | 4.2 |
| Realmeter | 12–13 April 2012 | 1,500 | 47.9 | 44.8 | 3.1 |
| JoongAng Ilbo / Gallup | 12–13 April 2012 | 800 | 45.1 | 35.9 | 9.2 |
| Realmeter | 6–10 February 2012 | 3,750 | 41.3 | 49.5 | 8.2 |
| Realmeter | 30 Jan – 3 Feb 2012 | 3,750 | 40.4 | 51.5 | 11.1 |

#### Park Geun-hye vs. Kim Doo-kwan

| Poll source | Date | Sample size | | | Margin |
| Poll source | Date | Sample size | Park (%) Saenuri | Kim (%) DUP | Margin |
| JoongAng Ilbo | 19–21 July 2012 | 2,000 | 68.5 | 20.6 | 47.9 |

#### Park Geun-hye vs. Moon Jae-in

| Poll source | Date | Sample size | | | Margin |
| Poll source | Date | Sample size | Park (%) Saenuri | Moon (%) DUP | Margin |
| JoongAng Ilbo | 19–21 July 2012 | 2,000 | 56.6 | 35.0 | 11.6 |
| OhMyNews/Research View | 16–17 July 2012 | 1,000 | 50.8 | 41.0 | 9.8 |
| Realmeter | 29 May – 1 Jun 2012 | 3,000 | 52.5 | 38.6 | 13.9 |
| Hankyoreh /Korea Society Opinion Institute | 26–27 May 2012 | | 61.0 | 33.5 | 27.5 |
| Realmeter | 21–25 May 2012 | 3,750 | 52.6 | 37.9 | 14.7 |
| JoongAng Ilbo | 15 May 2012 | 910 | 57.6 | 33.3 | 24.3 |
| Realmeter | 14–18 May 2012 | 3,750 | 52.0 | 37.5 | 14.5 |
| Realmeter | 7–11 May 2012 | 3,750 | 51.9 | 38.2 | 13.7 |
| Realmeter | 7–8 May 2012 | 1,500 | 55.7 | 36.3 | 19.4 |
| Realmeter | 30 Apr – 4 May 2012 | 3,000 | 52.4 | 38.0 | 14.4 |
| Realmeter | 23–27 April 2012 | 3,750 | 50.9 | 40.3 | 10.6 |
| Realmeter | 6–10 February 2012 | 3,750 | 44.3 | 43.0 | 1.3 |
| Realmeter | 30 Jan – 3 Feb 2012 | 3,750 | 44.4 | 44.9 | 0.5 |
| Donga Ilbo | 24 January 2012 | | 46.7 | 38.4 | 8.3 |

#### Park Geun-hye vs. Sohn Hak-kyu

| Poll source | Date | Sample size | | | Margin |
| Poll source | Date | Sample size | Park (%) Saenuri | Sohn (%) DUP | Margin |
| JoongAng Ilbo | 19–21 July 2012 | 2,000 | 67.4 | 23.9 | 43.5 |

### Multiple-candidate race

| Candidate | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Candidate | Ahn Cheol-soo | Chung Dong-young | Chung Mong-joon | Chung Sye-kyun | Chung Un-chan | Kim Doo-kwan | Kim Moon-soo | Lee Hoi-chang | Moon Jae-in | Park Geun-hye | Rhyu Si-min | Sohn Hak-kyu |
| Realmeter 29 May – 1 Jun 2012 | 22.1% | 1.7% | 2.1% | – | – | 2.2% | 3.2% | 2.4% | 13.8% | 40.4% | 1.7% | 3.6% |
| Korea Society Opinion Institute 26–27 May 2012 | 22.6% | 1.5% | 2.4% | – | – | 1.7% | 1.9% | – | 11.1% | 43.0% | 2.7% | 1.9% |
| Realmeter 21–25 May 2012 | 19.9% | 2.2% | 3.1% | 0.7% | 1.1% | 2.1% | 2.7% | 2.1% | 13.7% | 40.5% | 3.2% | 3.0% |
| JoongAng Ilbo 15 May 2012 | 23.3% | 1.1% | 2.5% | – | – | 1.7% | 1.9% | 1.3% | 9.9% | 39.3% | 1.1% | 2.0% |
| Realmeter 14–18 May 2012 | 20.7% | 1.8% | 2.2% | 1.0% | 1.9% | 2.6% | 2.5% | 1.4% | 13.4% | 41.9% | 2.4% | 3.2% |
| Realmeter 7–11 May 2012 | 23.8% | 1.7% | 2.9% | – | 1.6% | 2.2% | 2.0% | 1.8% | 12.3% | 40.3% | 2.0% | 3.4% |
| Media Research 1–6 May 2012 | 22.0% | 0.8% | 1.3% | 0.3% | 0.4% | 1.0% | 1.4% | 1.6% | 9.6% | 35.8% | 1.5% | 1.5% |
| Realmeter 30 Apr – 4 May 2012 | 22.2% | 2.3% | 2.8% | – | 1.0% | 2.1% | 2.5% | 1.7% | 13.5% | 40.0% | 2.1% | 3.2% |
| Realmeter 23–27 Apr 2012 | 24.0% | 1.3% | 2.4% | – | 0.9% | 2.0% | 2.8% | 1.8% | 13.1% | 40.3% | 2.5% | 3.6% |
| Korea Society Opinion Institute 21 April 2012 | 23.8% | 0.9% | 1.3% | – | – | 0.6% | 2.6% | 0.9% | 11.1% | 40.6% | 1.2% | 1.6% |
| Realmeter 16–20 Apr 2012 | 23.9% | 1.3% | 1.8% | – | 1.2% | 1.4% | 1.5% | 1.7% | 13.5% | 42.1% | 2.6% | 3.5% |
| Realmeter 12–13 Apr 2012 | 20.7% | 2.0% | 1.8% | 1.1% | 1.3% | – | 1.5% | 2.4% | 16.5% | 42.5% | 2.3% | 3.2% |
| Realmeter 2–6 Apr 2012 | 18.3% | 2.6% | 2.5% | 1.3% | 2.5% | – | 2.7% | 1.9% | 19.1% | 36.6% | 3.1% | 3.2% |
| Korea Society Opinion Institute 31 March 2012 | 17.2% | 2.1% | 1.1% | – | – | 0.4% | 1.6% | 1.6% | 16.3% | 36.2% | 1.8% | 2.4% |
| Realmeter 6–10 Feb 2012 | 20.8% | 2.4% | 2.5% | 0.8% | 2.6% | – | 2.8% | 2.6% | 19.4% | 31.3% | 3.1% | 3.1% |
| Realmeter 30 Jan – 3 Feb 2012 | 21.1% | – | – | – | – | – | 3.2% | – | 19.3% | 31.2% | 3.6% | 4.7% |

## Saenuri primary

| Poll source | Date | Sample size | Ahn Sang-soo | Chung Mong-joon | Chung Un-chan | Kim Moon-soo | Lee Jae-oh | Park Geun-hye | Yim Tae-hee |
| Hankyoreh/Korea Society Opinion Institute | 21 April 2012 | 800 | – | 5.2% | 0.4% | 3.1% | 0.2% | 83.4% | – |

## DUP primary

| Poll source | Date | Sample size | Ahn Cheol-soo | Chung Dong-young | Chung Sye-kyun | Kim Doo-kwan | Moon Jae-in | Sohn Hak-kyu |
| Hankyoreh/Korea Society Opinion Institute | 21 April 2012 | 800 | 2.3% | 5.4% | 2.4% | 3.6% | 43.4% | 15.5% |