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Former Democratic Party leader Rep. Lee Nak-yon walks into the press room at the National Assembly on Sunday to announce his policy plans for keeping women safe from sex-related and gender-based crimes. (Yonhap News)

A new poll of presidential hopefuls finds less support for Yoon Seok-youl, former chief prosecutor of South Korea, and more support for Lee Nak-yon, former head of the Democratic Party. This was the first poll that showed Lee ahead of Yoon in a hypothetical matchup.

A presidential suitability poll of 1,011 adult voters around the country conducted by WinGKorea Consulting on Friday and Saturday found that Yoon (26.4%) and Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung (25.8%) were neck and neck. The poll, commissioned by Asia Business Daily, had a 95% confidence level with a margin of error of 3 percentage points.

Yoon’s support was down 4.3 points from two weeks before, while Lee Jae-myung edged down 0.8 points. But Lee Nak-yon’s support surged 6.9 points from the previous poll to 16.4%.

Other presidential hopefuls tracked by the poll were Hong Joon-pyo, lawmaker with the People Power Party (4.8%); Choo Mi-ae, former Justice Minister (4.7%); Choe Jae-hyeong, former chair of the Board of Audit and Inspection (4.1%); and Yoo Seong-min, former lawmaker with the People Power Party (3.2%).

Yoon’s sagging support was evident in hypothetical head-to-head matchups. In the poll two weeks ago, Yoon’s advantage over Lee Jae-myung (48.7% to 40.5%) exceeded the margin of error. But in the latest poll, his margin was razor-thin (42.2% to 41.5%). And in a hypothetical matchup between Yoon and Lee Nak-yon (41.2% to 43.7%), Lee came out on top.

Yoon and Lee Nak-yon even tied at 36% in a hypothetical matchup in the national barometer survey published by M-Brain, Kstat Research, Korea Research, and Hankook Research on Thursday.

By Kim Tae-gyu, staff reporter

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