Next Presidential Preference: Lee Nak-yeon 25.6%, Lee Jae-myung 19.6%... Yoon Seok-youl Leads Opposition Camp

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Nahum] In the next presidential candidate preference survey, the preference for Lee Nak-yeon, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, showed a decline for three consecutive months, falling below 30%. On the other hand, ruling party competitor Lee Jae-myung, Governor of Gyeonggi Province, saw a rebound in preference, narrowing the gap with Lee. Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl maintained third place overall and held the top position among opposition figures.

Realmeter announced on the 4th that in a survey conducted from the 27th to the 31st of last month on 14 major politicians from both ruling and opposition parties commissioned by OhmyNews, Lee recorded a preference of 25.6%, ranking first. However, Lee's preference dropped by 5.2 percentage points compared to the previous month.

Lee Jae-myung recorded 19.6%, rising 4.0 percentage points from the previous month. This marks a continuous increase for two months, narrowing the gap with Lee Nak-yeon to 6.0 percentage points.

Yoon, who ranked third, recorded a support rate of 13.8%, up 3.7 percentage points from the previous month. Fourth place went to Hong Joon-pyo, an independent lawmaker, who rose 0.5 percentage points to 5.8%. Following were Ahn Cheol-soo, leader of the People’s Party (4.9%), and Oh Se-hoon, former mayor of Seoul (4.3%).

Others included Hwang Kyo-ahn, former leader of the United Future Party, at 4.0%; Yoo Seung-min, former lawmaker, at 2.5%; Won Hee-ryong, Governor of Jeju Province, at 2.3%; Choo Mi-ae, Minister of Justice, at 2.1%; Kim Boo-kyum, former lawmaker, at 1.9%; Lim Jong-seok, presidential foreign and security advisor, at 1.8%; Shim Sang-jung, leader of the Justice Party, at 1.7%; and Kim Kyung-soo, Governor of Gyeongnam Province, at 1.2%.

The combined preference for progressive and ruling party candidates (Lee Nak-yeon, Lee Jae-myung, Choo Mi-ae, Kim Boo-kyum, Lim Jong-seok, Shim Sang-jung, Kim Kyung-soo) was 53.9%, while the combined preference for conservative and opposition candidates (Yoon Seok-youl, Hong Joon-pyo, Ahn Cheol-soo, Oh Se-hoon, Hwang Kyo-ahn, Yoo Seung-min, Won Hee-ryong) was 37.6%. Although the progressive and ruling party candidates held the lead, the gap narrowed from 22.7 percentage points last month to 16.3 percentage points, a decrease of 6.4 percentage points.

This survey contacted 55,381 adults aged 18 and over nationwide, with a final 2,560 respondents completing the survey, resulting in a response rate of 4.6%. The sampling error is ±1.9 percentage points at a 95% confidence level. For more details, refer to the Central Election Survey Deliberation Commission website.