By Kim Sue-young
Staff Reporter
Presidential nominee Chung Dong-young of the United New Democratic Party (UNDP) saw his approval rating exceed 20 percent for the first time.
Chung started to absorb support from supporters of former Gyeonggi Governor Sohn Hak-kyu and former Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan, party sources said. Both Sohn and Lee unsuccessfully ran in the party's primary race.
However, Chung still lags far behind Lee who gained more than 50 percent of support in most surveys.
According to the news agency YTN Tuesday, Chung came in second in its poll receiving a 20.4 percent approval rating, 9.9 percentage points higher than the previous survey on Oct. 8.
Lee continues to lead the race with 54.6 percent with an increase of 5.4 percentage points.
Independent runner Moon Kook-hyun placed third with 8.4 percent of support.
Rep. Kwon Young-gil, standard-bearer of the Democratic Labor Party (DLP), and Rhee In-je, candidate of the Democratic Party, followed him with 4.2 percent and 3.4 percent, respectively.
Chung was the most favored runner among probable pro-government presidential candidates with 46.5 percent.
Moon, former CEO of product maker Yuhan-Kimberly, followed him with 20.8 percent and DLP candidate Rhee came in last with 13.4 percent in the poll.
Chung's support is on the rise but it is critical for him to join hands with other liberal parties for beating Lee, political observers said.
In the YTN survey, 65 percent of the 1,000 respondents said Lee will likely win the presidential race while 28.4 percent said he would be unsuccessful.
The UNDP nominee is seeking to have a unified candidate with other liberal forces ahead of the Dec. 19 presidential election.
The poll said if Chung becomes the unified candidate, his approval rating will stand at 25.4 percent, while Lee's is 55.3 percent.
If Moon becomes the unified candidate, his rating will reach 15.4 percent and Lee's rate will increase to 60.4 percent, the poll said.