Poll shows Lee, Yoon neck-and-neck at 40.4% vs. 38.5%
Ruling Democratic Party of Korea presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung, left, and main opposition People Power Party candidate Yoon Suk-yeol / Yonhap
Ruling party presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung is running neck and neck with his main opposition rival, Yoon Suk-yeol, with support of 40.4 percent versus the latter's 38.5 percent, a poll showed Thursday.
Lee of the liberal Democratic Party of Korea gained 5.1 percentage points from the pollster's previous survey from Jan. 8 to 10, while Yoon of the conservative People Power Party edged up 0.5 points, according to the survey of 1,012 adults conducted by Hangil Research, Wednesday.
The gap between Lee and Yoon was within the margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.
Ahn Cheol-soo, the presidential candidate of the minor opposition People's Party, came in third with 8.2 percent, while Sim Sang-jeung of the minor progressive Justice Party followed at 3.3 percent.
By age group, Lee was popular among voters in their 30s, 40s and 50s, earning support of 43.1 percent, 50.5 percent and 49.3 percent, respectively.
Yoon performed well among voters in their 20s and 60s, scoring a respective 37.2 percent and 50.9 percent. (Yonhap)