Lee, Yoon neck-and-neck in latest surveys

SEOUL, Jan. 18 (Yonhap) -- The presidential candidates of the ruling and main opposition parties are running neck and neck with support ratings of around 30 percent each, the latest surveys showed Tuesday.

In a survey by Kantar conducted on 1,010 adults on Saturday and Sunday, Yoon Suk-yeol of the main opposition People Power Party led Lee Jae-myung of the ruling Democratic Party 32.8 percent to 31.7 percent, which was within the margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points at a 95 percent confidence level.

Yoon gained 1.4 percentage points from the previous survey conducted from Dec. 28-30, while Lee lost 0.7 point.

Ahn Cheol-soo, the presidential candidate of the minor opposition People's Party, nearly doubled his support rating over the same period to 12.2 percent, while Sim Sang-jeung of the minor progressive Justice Party lost 1 percentage point to post 2.7 percent.

In the hypothetical scenario of Yoon and Ahn merging candidacies and Yoon emerging as the unified candidate, Yoon had 39.3 percent support, followed by Lee with 32.2 percent and Sim with 3.9 percent.

With Ahn as the unified candidate, Ahn had 47.9 percent support, followed by Lee at 26.6 percent and Sim at 2.5 percent.

A separate survey conducted by Embrain Public on 1,006 adults on Saturday and Sunday also found Yoon leading overall with 35.9 percent support against Lee's 33.4 percent.

The difference was again within the margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points at a 95 percent confidence level.

Yoon was up 5.9 percentage points from the previous survey conducted Dec. 30-31, while Lee was down 6 points.

Ahn climbed 5.5 percentage points to 15.6 percent, while Sim slipped 1.7 points to 4 percent.

As a unified candidate, Yoon beat Lee 45.3 percent to 37.2 percent, while Ahn beat Lee 51 percent to 31.3 percent.

Meanwhile, a Realmeter survey conducted Saturday and Sunday on 1,023 adults found Yoon leading Lee outside the margin of error with 43.4 percent against Lee's 36 percent.

Yoon climbed 3.3 percentage points from the previous survey conducted Dec. 25-26, while Lee dropped 5.1 points.

Ahn added 6 percentage points to post 11.7 percent and Sim lost 1.9 points to record 1.8 percent.

As a unified candidate, Yoon had 48.3 percent support against Lee's 35.6 percent, while Ahn had 42.7 percent against Lee's 30.1 percent.

The survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points at a 95 percent confidence level.

hague@yna.co.kr
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