Lee, Yoon in dead heat at 34 pct vs. 33 pct: poll

SEOUL, Jan. 20 (Yonhap) -- Ruling party presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung is in a dead heat with his main opposition rival Yoon Suk-yeol at 34 percent support against Yoon's 33 percent, a poll showed Thursday.

Lee of the liberal Democratic Party lost 3 percentage points from last week, while Yoon of the conservative People Power Party gained 5 points, according to the poll of 1,000 adults conducted Monday to Wednesday by Embrain Public, Kstat Research, Korea Research and Hankook Research.

Ahn Cheol-soo, the presidential candidate of the minor opposition People's Party, dropped 2 percentage points over the same period to 12 percent, while Sim Sang-jeung of the minor progressive Justice Party stayed put at 3 percent.

The proportion of undecided voters remained unchanged at 17 percent.

While 46 percent saw the need to unify opposition candidacies, 42 percent said it was not necessary.

As a unified candidate, Ahn was preferred over Yoon 40 percent to 34 percent, but among only those who saw the need for a unified candidate, Yoon was preferred over Ahn 52 percent to 37 percent.

When asked who is likely to be elected, regardless of personal preference, 40 percent picked Lee, while 34 percent chose Yoon. The difference was down to 6 percentage points from 21 points last week.

More voters, or 47 percent, called for passing judgment on the current government, while 40 percent called for choosing the ruling party candidate to ensure the stable running of state affairs.

President Moon Jae-in received a disapproval rating of 50 percent and an approval rating of 45 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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