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Gyeonggi Gov. Lee Jae-myung, former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl and former Democratic Party leader Lee Nak-yon (Graphic by Park Seon-mi)

A new poll shows that South Korean presidential frontrunners Lee Jae-myung, Yoon Seok-youl and Lee Nak-yon are neck and neck.

Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung had 23.8% support, former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl had 22%, and former Democratic Party head Lee Nak-yon had 20.1% in a presidential candidate preference poll that JTBC commissioned Realmeter to carry out on Saturday and Sunday on 1,000 adults around the country. The poll had a 95% confidence level with a margin of error of 3.1 points.

The gap between the three candidates was smaller than the margin of error, an outcome that hasn’t been seen in previous polls.

As Yoon’s support plummets and Lee Nak-yon’s rebounds, what had been a head-to-head race is shifting into a three-way competition.

Yoon was at the head of the pack with 33.9% of support in a poll two weeks ago, while Lee Nak-yon was only polling at 12.5%. But since then, Yoon has lost 11.9 points, while Lee has gained 7.6 points. Meanwhile, Lee Jae-myung’s approval slipped by 2.5 points to 26.3%.

In a hypothetical head-to-head matchup, the conservative and liberal candidates remained toe to toe. Lee Jae-myung and Yoon polled at 43%-41%, while Lee Nak-yon and Yoon polled at 41%-42.3%. In both cases, the difference was within the margin of error.

By Kim Tae-gyu, staff reporter

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