Lee leads Yoon 37.4 pct to 29.3 pct: poll

Ruling party presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung is leading his main opposition rival Yoon Suk-yeol with 37.4 percent support against Yoon’s 29.3 percent, a survey showed Wednesday.

Lee of the Democratic Party scored 8.1 percentage points higher than Yoon of the People Power Party, according to the survey of 1,000 adults conducted Sunday and Monday by Embrain Public.

In third place was Ahn Cheol-soo, the presidential candidate of the minor opposition People’s Party, at 7 percent, followed by Sim Sang-jeung of the minor progressive Justice Party at 4.2 percent and former Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon at 1 percent.

More than 19 percent of respondents said they did not have a preferred candidate or gave no response.

Meanwhile, a Gallup Korea survey of 1,008 adults Monday and Tuesday showed Lee had 36.8 percent support against Yoon’s 30.8 percent.

Ahn registered 9.3 percent followed by Sim with 6.6 percent. Slightly over 10 percent of respondents answered that they did not have a candidate they supported.

In the Embrain Public survey, Lee posted 46.4 percent in terms of election probability, while Yoon posted 33.5 percent.

When asked if they have decided whom to vote for, 41.9 percent said they had not, while 57.2 percent said they had.

Among voters aged 18-29, 70.3 percent said they had not made up their minds, while the rate among those in their 30s came to 51.7 percent.

The majority of respondents, 61.1 percent, said candidates’ family members should be subject to vetting in addition to the candidates themselves.

The percentage of voters wishing for a change of government came to 49.2 percent, while those seeking an extension of the current rule came to 39.8 percent. In the Gallup Korea poll, the percentages stood at 52.3 percent for the change and 37.6 percent for the extension.

In the Embrain Public survey, President Moon Jae-in’s approval rating increased by 2.8 percentage points from the previous survey to 43.9 percent, while his disapproval rating fell 3.1 points to 51.9 percent.

Both surveys had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points at a 95 percent confidence level.