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People’s Party candidate for president Ahn Cheol-soo waves to supporters while at a campaign stop in Cheongju on Sunday. (Yonhap News)

People’s Party presidential candidate Ahn Cheol-soo leads Democratic Party nominee Lee Jae-myung by a margin outside the margin of error in a hypothetical match-up between the two, a recent opinion survey showed.

Other surveys have also shown Ahn’s campaign picking up momentum, with an overall support rating exceeding 15%.

On Sunday, the polling organization Southern Post released findings from a survey of 1,002 voting-age South Koreans nationwide on Friday and Saturday at the request of the CBS network.

When asked whom they would vote for if Ahn were the sole opposition candidate, 42.3% of respondents said they would pick Ahn — 13.4 percentage points more than the 28.9% who said they would choose Lee.

In a scenario where People Power Party (PPP) nominee Yoon Suk-yeol is the sole opposition candidate, the findings showed a tighter race falling within the margin of error, with Yoon leading Lee by a margin of 34.4% to 28.9%.

When asked about a scenario where the opposition fields multiple candidates in the presidential election, 34.1% of respondents backed Lee, with 26.4% supporting Yoon, 12.8% supporting Ahn, and 3.1% supporting Justice Party candidate Sim Sang-jung.

Ahn’s support rating was over twice as high as the 6.0% he recorded in the preceding survey on Dec. 29–30. The survey was conducted via telephone interview (100% cellular), with a 95% confidence level and a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.

Also released Sunday were findings from another survey on presidential candidate support conducted by the Korea Society Opinion Institute (KSOI) at the request of the TBS network. Administered on Friday and Saturday to 1,001 adults, the results showed ratings of 37.6% for Lee, 35.2% for Yoon, 15.1% for Ahn, and 2.3% for Sim. KSOI’s poll also had a confidence level of 95% and a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.

Ahn had previously registered a support rating of 4.6% when findings from the same survey were released on Dec. 20. Since then, it has risen steadily, reaching 7.3% as of Dec. 27, 9.2% as of Jan.3, and 15.1% as of Sunday.

When asked who they thought would be more appropriate as a sole opposition party candidate, respondents in the survey opted for Ahn over Yoon by a margin of 37.3% to 35.5%.

Meeting with reporters the same day after a campaign stop on Seongan Street in Cheongju, Ahn dismissed the idea of dropping out of the race in order to field a single opposition candidate.

“I’m doing this [election campaign] so that I can be elected and play the chief role in bringing a new party to power, and that’s the only thing I’m thinking about,” he said.

“I believe the public will recognize me if I approach them quietly and with humility rather than hanging on support numbers,” he added.

By Lee Wan, staff reporter

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