Yoon Seok-yeol Widens Gap with Lee Jae-myung... TBS-KSOI "Leading by 13.2%p"

[Asia Economy Reporter Naju-seok] Yoon Seok-yeol, the presidential candidate of the People Power Party, has widened the gap in approval ratings with Lee Jae-myung, the candidate of the Democratic Party of Korea. The convention effect has continued for more than a week since he was nominated as the People Power Party candidate.

According to a public opinion poll conducted by the Korea Society Opinion Institute (KSOI) commissioned by TBS on the 12th and 13th, Yoon's approval rating rose by 2.6 percentage points from last week's survey to 45.6%. Lee's approval rating also increased by 1.2 percentage points to 32.4%, but the increase was smaller than Yoon's, widening the gap. The difference is 13.2 percentage points, which is outside the margin of error. Following them, Sim Sang-jung, the Justice Party presidential candidate, recorded 4.9%, Ahn Cheol-soo of the People’s Party 4%, and Kim Dong-yeon, the preparatory committee chairman of the New Wave Party, 1.1%. Other candidates accounted for 2.5%, and undecided voters were 9.5%.

Not only in this survey but also in all polls conducted since the presidential race was finalized with Yoon’s nomination on the 5th, Yoon has been ahead of Lee. In wireless response surveys (ARS), which tend to have relatively low response rates but higher participation from those interested in politics, Yoon leads by more than 10 percentage points, showing strong performance. In contrast, telephone interview surveys show a gap within 10 percentage points. However, in both methods, Yoon maintains a lead beyond the margin of error.

A notable point in this survey is the large fluctuation in Yoon’s approval ratings by generation. Among those in their 30s, support increased by 9.9 percentage points from last week to 45.4%. Conversely, among those in their 20s, support dropped by 7.2 percentage points to 27.1%. This can be interpreted as younger voters in their 20s, who supported Hong Joon-pyo of the People Power Party and distanced themselves from Yoon after Hong’s elimination in the primaries, being reluctant to open their support to Yoon.

Meanwhile, in a hypothetical one-on-one race between Yoon and Lee, Yoon led with 50.2%, ahead of Lee’s 36% by 14.2 percentage points. Compared to last week’s survey, Yoon’s support rose by 2.9 percentage points, and Lee’s by 0.8 percentage points. KSOI explained, "Since the start of regular surveys, Yoon’s approval rating in the hypothetical one-on-one race has exceeded 50% for the first time." This survey was conducted via wireless telephone automated response with 1,009 adults aged 18 and over nationwide. The sampling error is ±3.1 percentage points at a 95% confidence level. For more details, please refer to the Central Election Poll Deliberation Commission website.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.