Lee Has No Rival in Polls
By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
Lee Myung-bak, presidential nominee of the Grand National Party (GNP), has seen his approval rating soar since his nomination Monday, with support of 53 percent in a recent poll.
Opinion polls showed presidential hopefuls from liberal parties are only winning public support of below 10 percent. Former Gyeonggi Governor Sohn Hak-kyu, who bolted from the conservative GNP in March, is the strongest challenger to Lee at the moment, with support of just 7 percent to 9 percent, they said.
According to a survey of 875 people over 19 conducted by the JoongAng Ilbo newspaper on Tuesday, Sohn won 9 percent followed by former Unification Minister Chung Dong-young with 3.3 percent and former Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan with 2.9 percent. Rep. Chough Soon-hyung from the minor opposition Democratic Party had 2.3 percent.
A survey by the DongA Ilbo newspaper suggested that Lee won support of 56.8 percent, followed by Sohn with 7 percent.
The GNP is also enjoying high popularity above 50 percent. The JoongAng survey said the GNP won an approval rating of 51.7 percent, while the United New Democratic Party, the de facto successor to the now-defunct pro-government Uri Party, had 10.9 percent.
Political analysts say it remains to be seen if Lee can maintain such a high approval rating even after liberal parties field a single presidential candidate in October, as it is unclear whether supporters for Park Geun-hye, runner-up of the GNP nomination race, will support Lee or not.
According to a Munhwa Ilbo survey, 45.6 percent of Park's supporters said they want Lee to become president. Twenty-six percent of the respondents, however, said they are undecided and 24.9 percent said they ``will never support'' Lee.
``It is believed that some of Park's supporters were from liberal parties who failed to field a viable presidential candidate. In the same context, it is believed that Lee has some supporters, who were disappointed by the split governing camp,'' Han Gwi-young, a researcher of the Korea Society Opinion Institute, said.
``So we cannot rule out the possibility that such GNP supporters who moved from liberal groups can go back once they select a candidate,'' Han said.
Some experts say Lee's ``fragile support base'' is his main weak point. The Munhwa Ilbo survey said 67.7 percent of those surveyed said they are in favor of Lee. But only 30.9 percent said they are sure to support Lee, while 36.8 percent said they would possibly support Lee.