SEOUL– Both ruling party presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung and main opposition candidate Yoon Suk-yeol lost points in a poll published Thursday, with Lee leading Yoon 35 percent to 29 percent.
According to the poll by Embrain Public, Kstat Research, Korea Research and Hankook Research, Lee, the Democratic Party nominee, lost 3 percentage points from the previous survey two weeks ago, while Yoon of the People Power Party lost 7 percentage points.
The gap between the two widened from 2 percentage points two weeks ago to 6 percentage points.
The poll was conducted on 1,000 adults from Monday to Wednesday and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points at a 95 percent confidence level.
Ahn Cheol-soo, the presidential candidate of the minor opposition People’s Party, placed third at 6 percent, followed by Sim Sang-jeung of the minor progressive Justice Party at 4 percent.
The percentage of people who said they had no preferred candidate or did not give a response came to 25 percent, up 8 percentage points from the previous poll.
The latest survey follows a series of controversies surrounding Lee and Yoon’s respective families.
Lee’s elder son has faced allegations of illegal gambling and prostitution, while Yoon’s wife has been accused of falsifying her credentials on past job applications.
When asked about the need to vet candidates’ family members, 68 percent of the survey’s respondents said it was necessary, while 28 percent said it was inappropriate.
At 42 percent each, respondents were evenly split between those calling for the election of a ruling party candidate to ensure the stable running of state affairs and those seeking the election of an opposition candidate in order to pass judgment on the current administration.
This is the first time in six months that the two groups have tied, as previously, more people viewed the March presidential election as a referendum on the current government.
President Moon Jae-in’s approval rating came to 45 percent, up 2 percentage points from two weeks ago, while his disapproval rating fell 3 points to 49 percent.
Source: Yonhap News Agency