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South Korean President Moon Jae-in presides over a meeting on vaccine development at SK Bioscience in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, on Oct. 15. (Yonhap News)

According to a new poll, the South Korean public is nearly split on the question of whether the Blue House should remain in the hands of the Democratic Party or whether there should be a change of parties in the presidential election in 2022.

In a poll by Gallup Korea released on Oct. 16, 44% of respondents wanted a candidate from the ruling Democratic Party to be elected, while 39% wanted the opposition party to take the presidency. The poll was carried out on Oct. 13-15 on 1,001 voters around the country with a reliability of 95% and a sampling error of ±3.1 points.

Support for keeping the Democratic Party in power fell by 3 points from a survey in the second week of September, bringing the ruling party’s edge in the poll within the margin of error.

By region, voters who preferred to see a new party in power were in the majority in Seoul (45%); Daejeon, Sejong and South Chungcheong Province (41%); Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province (50%); and Busan and South Gyeongsang Province (48%). Those who prefer keeping the same party in power predominated in Gyeonggi Province and Incheon (49%) and in Gwangju and North and South Jeolla Province (71%).

When pollsters were asked about their preference for the country’s next president, Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung took the lead at 20%, followed by Democratic Party leader Lee Nak-yeon at 17%. Compared to last month’s poll, the two Lees, who are unrelated, were down two and four points, respectively. Less popular potential candidates were People’s Party leader Ahn Cheol-soo (4%), Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol (3%), independent lawmaker Hong Joon-pyo (2%), and Jeju Governor Won Hee-ryong (1%).

The poll found South Korean President Moon Jae-in to have an approval rating of 47%, three points higher than the fourth week of September (44%), three weeks ago. Negative appraisals fell six points over the same period, from 48% to 42%.

For more details, please visit the website of the National Election Survey Deliberation Commission.

By Noh Hyun-woong, staff reporter

Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]