| South Korea's presidential candidates, from left, Sim Sang-jung of the opposition Justice Party, Ahn Cheol-soo of the opposition People's Party, Yoon Suk-yeol of the main opposition People Power Party and Lee Jae-myung of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea pose for a photo ahead of a televised presidential debate for the forthcoming March 9 presidential election, in Seoul, Feb. 25. AP-Yonhap |
Main opposition presidential candidate Yoon Suk-yeol is leading his ruling party rival Lee Jae-myung by around 3.2 percentage points just a week before the election, two polls showed Wednesday.
In a Realmeter survey conducted Monday and Tuesday, Yoon of the conservative People Power Party earned support of 46.3 percent against Lee of the liberal Democratic Party of Korea's 43.1 percent.
The 3.2 percentage point gap was within the margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level.
In third place was Ahn Cheol-soo of the People's Party with 6.7 percent, followed by Sim Sang-jeung of the Justice Party with 1.9 percent.
When asked which candidate is likely to win the election, 50.3 percent picked Yoon, while 44.6 percent chose Lee.
Of the total 1,007 respondents, 88.7 percent said they plan to continue to support their favored candidate, while 9.6 percent said they could change their mind.
In a poll conducted by Ace Research and Consulting Group on Sunday and Monday, Yoon led Lee 44.6 percent to 43.7 percent.
The survey also had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level.
Ahn and Sim followed at 7.4 percent and 1.9 percent, respectively.
In the survey of 1,004 adults, 48.9 percent picked Yoon as the candidate most likely to win, while 46.7 percent chose Lee.
These polls are among the last to be published before the election.
By law, polls conducted within six days of the election cannot be published until after voting closes. (Yonhap)