Who's ahead: Lee Jae-myung 51%, Kim Moon-soo 29%, Lee Jun-seok 8%

Lee, who formerly chaired the Democratic Party after narrowly losing to former President Yoon Suk Yeol in 2022, was the frontrunner in the poll of 1,004 adults from Tuesday to Thursday with a 51 % favourable rating.

It was the first Gallup Korea's weekly poll outcome since the official campaign period began on Monday. In the previous poll unveiled three weeks ago in late April, the Democratic Party's Lee got 38 % backing.

Lee was followed by conservative People Power Party candidate Kim Moon-soo, who garnered 29 % support and minor conservative New Reform Party candidate Lee Jun-seok's 8 %.

In the previous poll, the ratings of Kim and the New Reform Party's Lee stood at 8 % and 2 %, respectively.

Of the respondents this week, 12 % had no opinion about their favourite presidential candidates.

Among those who identified themselves as centrists, 52 % favoured the liberal party's Lee, while 20 % backed the conservative rival's Kim. Among conservatives, Democratic Party candidate Lee's support came to 22 %, behind Kim's 58 %.

In the southeastern region — long considered the right-wing stronghold — Lee and Kim are in a close race. The poll showed Lee's overall rating in Busan, Ulsan and South Gyeongsang Province came to 41 %, ahead of Kim's 39 %. In Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province, Kim was ahead of Lee by 48 per cent to 34 %.

Those who favoured the Democratic Party's Lee cited his capacity to manage state affairs, his ability to handle the aftermath of former President Yoon's martial law imposition, among others. Supporters of the People Power Party's Kim favoured his high moral standard and his sincerity.

Another poll by Realmeter, also released Friday, showed a similar outcome. Lee's support rating came to 51.9 %, far ahead of Kim's 33.1 % and New Reform Party candidate Lee's 6.6 %. The poll was conducted on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Son Ji-hyoung

The Korea Herald

Asia News Network