Property Storm Gives Little Impact on Ex-Seoul Mayor’s Popularity
By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff Reporter
A latest poll found two intriguing implications in the popularity trends of the two leading presidential contenders of the Grand National Party (GNP) _ former Seoul Mayor Lee Myung-bak and former party chairwoman Park Geun-hye.
The property storm has given little impact on leading presidential contender Lee's popularity and the two leading contenders' approval ratings in South and North Gyeongsang Provinces took on opposite trends.
While Lee's approval ratings in South Gyeongsang Province have been on the rise since May, his ratings are falling in North Gyeongsang Province.
A recent Hankyoreh newspaper poll found the former Seoul mayor's approval rating stood at 37.7 percent, and the rating of his rival Park, also of the GNP stood at 25.6 percent.
The poll of 700 adults nationwide was conducted on July 7 with a margin of error of plus and minus 3.7 percentage points.
The gap between the two leading contenders has been narrowed by 2.7 percentage points from the poll conducted a month earlier.
The poll showed that Lee's approval ratings in North Gyeongsang Province and Daegu have dropped significantly since May.
His rating stood at 39. 3 percent in May and went down to 31.1 percent, a decrease of 8.2 percentage points during the last three months.
Park's rating in the same region, however, showed an opposite trend.
It marked 31.7 percent in May, 8 percentage points lower than Lee's, but her figure rose to 40.5 percent in June, winning her rival Lee by 5 percentage points.
The poll also found that an opposite trend is going on in South Gyeongsang Province and Busan. The poll conducted in May showed Lee's approval rating was 29.5 percent, and his rival Park won 39. 7 percent.
The race in the region became too-close-to-call in July as Lee's approval rating stood at 33 and his rival Park's figure marked 34 percent.