hankyoreh

Candidates for this year’s presidential election, from left to right: Lee Jae-myung of the ruling Democratic Party, Yoon Suk-yeol of the main opposition People Power Party, Sim Sang-jung of the minor progressive Justice Party, and Ahn Cheol-soo of the minor opposition People's Party. (graphic by Baek Ji-suk)

The results of a recent public opinion poll show that the two leading presidential candidates, Lee Jae-myung of the Democratic Party and Yoon Suk-yeol of the People Power Party, are neck in neck in the race to become South Korea’s next president.

A Realmeter survey of 2,038 voters nationwide was conducted from Sunday through Wednesday. It found Yoon slightly leading Lee, with the two candidates polling 41.9% and 40.5%, respectively.

The survey was commissioned by OhmyNews and had a confidence level of 95% and a margin of error of plus or minus 2.2 percentage points.

Compared to a survey a week ago, Yoon’s support fell by 1 percentage point while Lee increased his numbers by 1.8 percentage points. Meanwhile, Ahn Cheol-soo of the minor opposition People’s Party saw his support drop to 6.8%, down 1.5 points from the previous poll. Minor progressive Justice Party candidate Sim Sang-jung was polling at 2.6%.

The survey asked respondents who they thought would be the best to handle the issue of the decline of rural areas as a result of more and more people moving to the Seoul metropolitan area and overall centralization of power in the city. Respondents thought Lee would be best suited to handle this issue, with 41.9% picking him. Yoon came in second, with 34.1% of respondents choosing him, while Ahn received 7.6% and Sim 3.2%.

Regarding respondents’ intention to vote in this year's presidential election, 95.1% said they plan to vote. Of them, 82.5% of respondents said they would definitely vote, and 12.6% said they would vote if circumstances permit. Of all respondents, 3.9% said they had no intention of voting.

Among those who said they would “definitely” go out and vote, 43.8% were Lee Jae-myung supporters while 43.6% were rooting for Yoon.

Moon Jae-in’s approval rating ticked up 2 points compared to when last surveyed, and now stands at 44.4%

Respondents were selected by random digit dialing to mobile phones (95%) and landlines (5%) and surveys were conducted via telephone interviewing (40%) and automatic responses (60%).

Further information about election polls and surveys can be found on the website of the National Election Survey Deliberation Commission.

By Lee Wan, staff reporter

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