Yoon leads Lee within margins of error in 2 polls

Main opposition presidential candidate Yoon Suk-yeol is leading his ruling party rival Lee Jae-myung within margins of error, two polls showed Monday.

In a survey by the Korea Society Opinion Institute (KSOI), Yoon of the conservative People Power Party garnered a 43.5 percent support, while Lee of the liberal Democratic Party received 40.4 percent.

The 3.1 percentage-point gap is within the margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points. The poll conducted on 1,005 adults Friday and Saturday has a 95 percent confidence level.

Compared with the previous week’s survey, Yoon lost 1.1 points, while Lee gained 2 points, the pollster said.

The latest survey was conducted shortly after President Moon Jae-in slammed Yoon for saying he would investigate the former administration’s “deep-rooted evils” if elected.

In third place was Ahn Cheol-soo, the candidate of the minor opposition People’s Party, with 7.8 percent, followed by Sim Sang-jeung of the minor progressive Justice Party at 3.5 percent.

Huh Kyung-young of the National Revolutionary Party and Kim Dong-yeon of the New Wave earned 1.2 percent and 0.6 percent, respectively.

When asked to characterize the March 9 election, 47.7 percent said they would vote for the opposition candidate as a rebuke of the current administration’s running of state affairs, while 42.5 percent said they would vote for the ruling party candidate for the stable running of state affairs.

The gap between the two sides was reduced to 5.2 percentage points, down 8.6 points from the previous survey.

Later in the day, Kantar Korea released the results of its poll, which showed Yoon leading Lee with 38.8 percent to 33.2 percent. The poll asked 1,010 adults Saturday and Sunday.

Yoon and Lee gained 3.3 percentage points and 2.2 percentage points, respectively, from the previous poll conducted on Feb. 4 and 5.

Their gap of 5.6 percentage points is within the margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points. The poll has a confidence level of a 95 percent.

Ahn lost 3.7 points to post 8.4 percent, and Sim rose 0.2 point to 3.1 percent.