Yoon leads Lee by between 0.7 and 4.5 percentage points: polls

SEOUL, Feb. 23 (Yonhap) -- Main opposition presidential candidate Yoon Suk-yeol is leading his ruling party rival Lee Jae-myung by between 0.7 and 4.5 percentage points in polls, three surveys showed Wednesday.

In a survey by Gallup Korea conducted Monday and Tuesday, Yoon of the conservative People Power Party earned 39 percent support against Lee of the liberal Democratic Party's 38.3 percent.

Ahn Cheol-soo of the minor opposition People's Party came in third place with 9.5 percent, while Sim Sang-jeung of the minor progressive Justice Party followed with 3 percent.

The survey was conducted on 1,014 adults and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points at a 95 percent confidence level.

In a poll of 1,002 people conducted Saturday and Sunday by Jowon C&I, Yoon led Lee 43.6 percent to 42.1 percent.

Yoon's support fell 1.9 percentage points from two weeks earlier, while Lee's climbed 3.1 points, reducing their gap from 6.5 points to 1.5 points, which was within the margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points at a 95 percent confidence level.

Ahn and Sim earned 5.9 percent and 2.2 percent, respectively.

Meanwhile, a Korea Information Research poll of 1,002 people conducted Monday found Yoon leading Lee 44 percent to 39.5 percent.

Yoon's support fell 0.3 percentage point from last week, while Lee's rose 0.1 point, reducing their gap from 4.9 points to 4.5 points.

Ahn had 7.5 percent support, while Sim earned 3.1 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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